Monster Story
by grandvizier527
Summary: The mobs had banded together as an artificial family for a while now, united under the threat of Steve as he began to conquer the land of Genesia, destroying their homes and families. But without Steve's knowledge the group travels south to a village, where they attempt to begin the long process of taking back their world.
1. Chapter 1

Monster story

Five faces were gathered around the pit. All solemnly ate their food, consisting of chicken, beef, and pork chops cooked from a Ghast's flame contained in a lantern, some carrots, potatoes, and a single pumpkin. Just to the west of the small pit they had dug for themselves to sleep was the ocean, which one of the five glanced at nervously as she nibbled on her carrots.

Klack the Skeleton kept his bony hand on his bow, ready to grab it in case there was danger. But in a world in which there was only one person to fear, was it really necessary? Klack would have immediately said yes, nodding vigorously as his jaw opened and closed with the shaking of his head.

"It wasn't all bad today. Some of the others...they managed to blow up a house," Klack said, trying to lift the spirits of the group.

"Don't tell lies," whispered Puyo the Creeper, his quiet voice carrying so much authority. Like most Creepers, he was very young. In their line of work, they were lucky to live past a year, but Notch had blessed them with enough intelligence to match a Zombie's. But not a Zombie's longevity.

"Sorry," Klack said, his jawbone creaking as he apologized. Puyo responded by nuzzling his head against Klack's ribcage.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Klack. I don't really know what death means. You know that." But this in itself was a lie.

"That's all fine and dandy for you, but frankly it's not right, even for a Creeper!" Arachne the Spider spoke up, hissing at Klack. "The nerve of you!"

"The nerve of _you_! Yelling at a child like that!" Klack countered. "At least I know that Puyo feels something. I can't imagine how _you _would be able to handle it if all of your eggs were suddenly crushed!"

"I'd be fine! I raised about a hundred of 'em, you know, and I can do it again once I find another mate!" she snapped back.

"Stop..." Puyo said, his tiny voice trailing off. One of Notch's greatest curses to the Creeper race, he thought, was not that they had death as their only means of defense; the greatest curse from Notch was that only in this death could they make an impact, both literally and metaphorically.

"What I have I told you two about the bickering?!" Necrom the Zombie shouted with all the dread in his voice of the undead. The oldest and strongest of the group, Necrom had been their leader ever since the five had agreed to travel together. No one dared question his orders, fearing that it might cost them their life.

"We must not dwell on what divides us, be it words, habits, or terrain," said Slim, the Enderman. Or, more accurately, Enderwoman. Slim was not her real name, but as a foreigner to this strange world she was willing to have a new one bestowed upon herself, courtesy of the rudest of the mobs, Arachne, and the only other female of the group. But gender was as far as the similarities went. It was assumed that the creed, drawn out by Necrom on the sand just a few weeks ago, was the only thing keeping them from going their separate ways.

"Indeed. Now both of you eat your food. It is time we stop honoring the permanently dead, and focus on our next plans of sabotage. Did anyone see how many were with us when we raided the village for this food?"

"Five Zombies, 2 Creepers, 3 Spiders, 3 Skeletons," Puyo rasped.

"No Endermen?" Slim asked woefully.

"Nope," Puyo replied meekly.

"And how many casualties?" Necrom asked the group.

"I saw one Creeper explode," Klack said, knowing well enough that Puyo wouldn't take offense. "And I think the Skeleton next to me fell as well. I gathered up some of his arrows."

"Two of the Zombies were wearing armor. Guess where I got the carrots and this shiny gold helmet from?" Arachne said cynically. Necrom took the gold helmet from her.

"You didn't have time to pick off a more dull color from them?" he asked.

"They both had just one gold helmet. That was it," Arachne replied. Necrom put it on. Arachne gave the other one she had to Klack, who seemed more eager to wear it.

"The brightness is a hindrance. And gold doesn't rust. I feel so absurd wearing this. But if it will protect me from the sun, it'll have to do. What about you, Puyo? Did you see anything?"

"The explosion. After the house collapsed, Steve took his sword and slashed at the other Creeper. He died; he didn't have time to blow up."

"I'm sorry you had to see another of your own kind fall to the hands of Steve."

"The Spiders climbed the houses, but two were shot and the third was murdered with his sword," Slim said. "Steve climbed a ladder."

"Sure there wasn't _anything _you could do to help?" Arachne asked. "Like maybe hit him with a block and then warp away? Coward."

"Arachne, compose yourself. I'm sure there was a good reason Slim couldn't engage Steve at the moment she witnessed the carnage."

"Yes. I was securing the food, warping from here to the village and back," Slim said in a monotone but defiant voice. "I don't enjoy watching your friends die."

"They're not our friends. They're just fellow soldiers in this fight against him!" Arachne replied.

"No. Everyone who is not on the side of Steve is a friend. By that extent, the animals are our friends, friends who offer themselves to supply us with food, after they have been blessed with an adequate life by Notch," Necrom said. "Perhaps the afterlife will allow us to see them again, as Zombies or Skeletons. And I do not consider the Villagers to be enemies, either, as they are weak and can be persuaded to our cause."

"Fine, we're all friends, just don't get all preachy on me," Arachne said. "I've had enough for one night, thanks."

"Very well. So, to tally up the deaths: 2 Zombies, both of the Creepers, all 3 of the Spiders, and one Skeleton, bringing us to a total of 8 slain by Steve and his associates."

"Great. Now what?" Arachne asked as Necrom finished the last of the pumpkin.

"We save what we have not eaten and retire to bed. The morning is coming, and we should be going somewhere safe. It will be easy to find shelter since Klack and I now have protection from the sun."

"Why does it hurt you?" Slim asked.

"We do not know. Perhaps it is the same way with you and the water. I'm sorry we had to regroup here. You are very brave to stay with us, Slim. A sudden wave could hurt you."

"It's alright. What choice do I have but to follow you all?" Slim asked rhetorically.

"Well, you could leave if you ever felt like it. Seriously, the door is wide open," Arachne said. "Or you could find a way to get back. I heard there's a stronghold south of the taiga-the one below us-and you could find an Ender portal there and-"

"No. I stay with you. All of you," Slim said. "I don't know why you act the way you do, Arachne, but that doesn't matter to me. You can let your guard down. As Necrom said, we're all friends here."

"Friends!" Puyo cried hoarsely. He nuzzled against Slim's legs, purring. Arachne rolled all 8 of her eyes.

"Meow!" she squeaked out. Puyo jumped with fright and stopped, but giggled when he realized it was just Arachne.

"You're very silly!" Puyo said, resting his head on Arachne's abdomen.

"Get your head off my butt!" she cried. It grew worse when Necrom, Slim, and Klack all reached down to hug the two, embracing as a group.

"Aww, stop it, guys, all of you, you're all being really stupid right now!"

"Foolishness is a gift to be shared," Necrom said.

The five of them watched in silence as the sun began to rise, and for the first time they all saw the beauty of dawn, together, not running away or combusting or hiding like they usually did.

"So this is the sun...it's so big and bright!" Klack cried, shielding his face with his bow. Necrom faced it with courage.

"So this is the beacon of light that protects Steve. It is our enemy, but a beautiful one at that. But look at us now!" Necrom cried, his voice resonating along the edge of the plains where they stood to observe it. "Here we stand, united and defiant against the very deity of Steve, unwavering in our tenacity and unfaltering in our bravery, facing the burning sphere itself! Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that this is an omen, and a positive one at that. It means that today is the first day we fully embark on our counterstrike against tyranny! Remember, we fight for the freedom of Genesia, and we will not rest until the last light, even the giant one that hovers before us now, is extinguished! It may take months, years, perhaps a thousand of them, but we will never-"

"Uh, Necrom?"

"Yes, Arachne?" the Zombie asked breathlessly.

"I don't think Steve actually worships the sun. I think Steve serves Notch, like the rest of us."

"Ridiculous. I refuse to believe that that abomination has the same faith as we do."

"Whatever. Let's get moving!"

"For once, I agree with Arachne. We can save the speech-making for later, Necrom. Right now we need to be on the move. Sunnyshore is a long way to the south of here, and if we can make it all the way there I'll tell you what I have in mind."

"I'm always eager to here ideas, Klack. But I agree; we must take the rest of our food and go."


	2. Chapter 2

And so the five mobs set out to the south, hugging the coastline as they went. Klack, the best swimmer of the group, swam along the coast, occasionally peaking underwater to see if there were any squid to eat. Squid was an acquired taste, but he knew that Arachne especially liked them raw. Klack saw one alone after swimming out just a few yards from the shoreline. He shot and killed it with an arrow. They worked just as well traveling through water as they did air. He swam down to retrieve his catch while still holding his bow and climbed out of the sea, showing off his catch.

"I'm sure Arachne will be pleased," Necrom said absentmindedly, keeping one eye on the sun. Arachne's eyes widened with pleasure, and saliva dripped from her fangs.

"Squid! Give it to me!" she cried.

"No, we just ate!" Klack replied. Arachne tried to reach the squid with her legs that could also function as arms when necessary, such as at the moment. Klack held it out of her reach until she climbed on top of him and tackled him. Necrom, seeing the commotion, grabbed the squid and ripped it out of her mouth. The half that Arachne still had was quickly eaten, and the half that Necrom had was stored away in his inventory with the rest of the food.

"I'm only giving you the rest as a reward, Arachne," the Zombie said.

"A reward for what? Most legs, I hope?"

"From now until the sun is at its highest, make no more rude remarks."

"Pffft! Easy! I can do that!" she said nonchalantly. As the mobs headed further south, the plains to the east of them gave way to trees, and they realized they were skirting the edge of a forest. Slim, upon seeing the trees, grew excited.

"May I please go into the forest? I promise I won't stay behind. I just want to get away from the water."

"What's the matter?" Arachne began, but then Klack interrupted her.

"If you and your squid shared a brain, what would it think of that remark?" Klack asked quizzically.

"I don't know, but if it shared a brain with you, it-hey! That's it, I'm going with Slim! If I'm too mean or whatever, she can just warp back to you guys and squeal!"

Necrom chuckled. "Seems like a fair agreement. But I assure you, Arachne, it isn't as hard as it looks; kind words are very easy to speak when they are sincere." Arachne's face puffed up as she tried not to laugh as she followed Slim into the forest.

While Arachne and Slim went off into the forest, Necrom turned around to search for Puyo, who had been noticeably quiet. He found him sitting alone ahead of Klack and Necrom, staring into what seemed like either the forest or the land across the sea to the south, which was now in full view. "Puyo? Is something the matter?" Necrom asked. He cautiously and quietly crept behind Puyo, who quickly spun around and took a step backwards in shock when he stepped on a fallen leaf.

Only when Necrom had reached where Puyo had been standing did he realize that the Creeper had been staring down a ravine! Necrom immediately reached out to grab him as he fell. Puyo bit on to Necrom's outstretched hand as he fell, flailing his stubby legs over the roughly 150-foot drop.

"Hold on, Puyo!" Necrom cried, unsure if the tears were beginning to well in his eyes from pain or the sudden realization that his friend was going to die, and by his own mistake. Puyo stared back up at him, his eyes wide with fear.

"KLACK!" Necrom cried, realizing that it was only through the Skeleton's efforts that one of them had a chance to survive.

Klack arrived on the scene just as Necrom's frail Zombie hand broke off from his own wrist, sending Puyo falling down the ravine. He fired an arrow down the side of the ravine, and it stuck into the wall just below Puyo. It had taken great skill for Klack to be able to fire the arrow directly down at Puyo without it actually hitting him as he fell. Puyo chomped down on the wood with his teeth, lacking arms to hold on.

The three of them watched in fear and dread as the frail arrow began to crack, finally giving way after just a few seconds. Puyo fell undeterred to the bottom of the ravine, his body making an audible thud as he crashed to the bottom.

Without thinking, Necrom jumped down the ravine headfirst after Puyo. Klack could only stare in horror, his jawbone nearly detaching from him.

**. . . . .**

Meanwhile, in the forest, Arachne and Slim continued to head south, not knowing of what had happened to their friends. Necrom's screams had been dismissed by both of them as just the howl of a wolf, each of them hoping that it hadn't been tamed by Steve.

Arachne climbed virtually every tree she saw, hoping to catch an insect or two before moving on.

"Do you have any inkling as to what Klack's plan is when we reach Sunnyshore?" Slim asked.

"Well, it's a village full of those things that look like him, that much I know. I think it has to do with taking hostages. That's my best guess, but don't quote me on that," Arachne replied.

Alone with the Spider, Slim realized that now was a prime opportunity to learn why-if there was any reason at all-that Arachne was the way she was. Snarky, brutally frank, and cynical. Why was she with the rest of the group if she seemed to have trouble hiding her disdain for social activity?

"Arachne?"

"What? See a bug or something?"

"No. Can we talk?"

"About what, the weather? It looks sunny to me." Climbing the top of one of the trees, she affirmed that the sun was still shining high above them.

"It's not at its highest point yet," Arachne said. "Dang it, lunchtime can't come around soon enough! I knew it was a bad idea to go wandering around in the daytime! I should be back underground, tending to some corpses!"

"Arachne, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Corpses? Oh, I get it; you probably don't get them much where you come from. Well, they're basically what happens when you die, and your body just stays there. Kinda like what we saw at-"

"I know what a corpse is! I mean I want to talk to you about...your family."

Arachne hissed. "Family, what family? You better not say us as a group!"

"No, Arachne. Why are you avoiding my question?" Slim asked gently. "I just want to know-what happened that made you want to join us? I remember that when you first came to the rest of us-you were the last one-you said something about how there was nothing left to lose except for your life, and that it would be out of the jurisdiction of 'those others'. What did you mean?"

Arachne growled low, her back turned to Slim. She suddenly snapped, but not at her; Arachne was merely venting her frustrations on a nearby ladybug. A tiny morsel, but delicious nonetheless.

"Isn't it obvious?" Arachne said. "Were my hints too vague, or something?" She asked, finally turning around to face Slim.

"If you don't want to tell me, I understand. But I think that opening up, rather than closing yourself and deliberately trying to alienate yourself from the others would be best for you."

"Why do you care?" Arachne asked.

"Because," Slim replied, "Just like you, I lost everything to this harsh world, and it's only by being with my new friends that I can keep myself safe. And forgive me for saying this, but right now I think that you need protection from your own hostility. One day, Necrom may not be able to put up with it anymore, and then he'll-"

"Kill me because I was so annoying. Just like he killed my babies."

"What? Arachne, I didn't mean to-" Arachne placed a leg on Slim's shoulder to indicate that she wanted to speak.

"No, it's about time I explain myself. I used to live deep underground, in the caverns with most of the others. There were Zombies, Creepers, the occasional Slime, even Endermen like yourself. We lived happily and simply. I wasn't the way I am now. How could I be with a family to look after?"

"What happened to them?" Arachne asked.

"I was out hunting at one point-I don't know whether it was day or night, that didn't matter underground. My mate, Spiralung-Notch bless his soul, it was his turn to guard the web with the eggs. I had just come back home with some Silverfish when I heard a crunching sound. And there Steve was, slicing the web with a sword of iron. That crunching sound had been Spiralung, whose neck had just been stomped on. Steve used his sword to slice up the web, taking care to crush most of the eggs. I heard tiny squeals coming from the web as Steve ran off, not realizing I had seen the whole thing. The squeals were some of the Spiders, who Notch had just cruelly decided would have hatch right at that moment. I took the surviving children-and a few of the dead ones that had already hatched-and made a run for it in the opposite direction he had taken."

"I'm so sorry for your tremendous loss at the cruel hands of him," Slim said. Arachne stared back grimly.

"What, did you think the story was over?" she said, snickering cynically. "If there's one thing you need to know about Spiders, it's that we're not supposed to raise them after they've hatched. It's our job to find fresh food for them each day, even before they're too young to eat it. They could hatch any day, you see, and if it isn't their time then the meal is just for my mate and me. After they hatch, you feed them once, and that's it."

"Well, did you still have the Silverfish?" Slim asked.

"Yes. I fed the remaining young ones that-they weren't even old enough to speak yet-and then I continued to take care of them. At that point I had broken the law. In case you haven't realized by own actions, it's sort of illegal for Spiders to care about anything. It wasn't long before the other Spiders found out, and cast me out of the caves. That's the punishment for 'overearing', at least under our cultural laws."

"But didn't you explain to them what had happened?" Slim asked.

"I tried, but you see, we Spiders don't like lies, or even an unusual fact. We like things to make sense, and the massacre of most of my children didn't make sense to the other Spiders. My children were removed from me by two volunteers, outsiders that thought that kissing the abdomens of the local Spider community would get them a share of the Redstone or the lapis lazuli. Guess what they were!"

"A Creeper and a Skeleton," Slim replied.

"Yep! It wasn't Klack and Puyo-they know better-but what those two did was unforgiveable. When they ended up on the surface one night I took the law into my own legs-er, hands."

"I see. Did you ever find out about the fates of your children?" Slim asked. Arachne tried to laugh again, but all that Slim saw were tears streaming from her 8 eyes.

"Steve conducted another raid through the tunnels, setting up torches and whatnot. Do you know what torches do to infant mobs that are too young for him to even see or wander about safely? They die. Once we get to a certain age-and by we I mean all the mobs besides your kind-we're okay with torchlight, but that was enough to burn out my little babies before they could even discover how cruel the world was."

"A couple of months later, I found you guys. I figured I could be the token Spider of your group-you even said so-and revenge was the only real thing on my mind. Frankly, that's the only word out of Necrom's mouth that I've paid attention to lately. The rest of you have just been either strange foreigners or grim reminders of my past. Until now."

"Why has it changed now-right now, you mean?" Slim asked.

"Yes, right now. You bothered to ask about my life, Slim, and I can't thank you enough for that." Arachne sighed, her breath shooting out from her whole body. She was only a Spider, after all.

"You're welcome, Arachne. I hope you'll be a little kinder now that you've gotten it all off your chest."

"I really don't know about that, and I really don't care. I can get squid some other way," she replied, turning to stare up at Slim. "So, what about you?"

"I guess it's my turn, then? Okay, Arachne; you've told me your story, it's only fair that I tell you mine." Slim's voice grew soft as she continued to speak. Arachne relaxed her legs and lay down on the forest floor, listening to the Enderwoman's equally tragic tale.

"I don't think I've really told you or the others much about the End. There isn't much to say, really; it's a very dead world. No plants grow, and we don't have a sun or a moon. And water is toxic to our kind, so it's nowhere to be found. I tried it once. It tasted like poison, and I nearly passed out.

Once you dig deep enough on my home world, you'll find yourself falling into an abyss that goes on forever. Many Endermen have died this way, falling off of the edge of the world, unable to teleport back. The world is also dotted with pillars of obsidian, the rock you see when water quenches lava. And in this world live only us, and our creator, the Ender Dragon. Our mother, our father, our parent. It cannot go to this world, and that is why we are here. To prevent him from reaching her, as Steve inevitably will one day. We fear for the Dragon."


	3. Chapter 3

Necrom opened his eyes, although his vision was blurry from the dust and gravel that had been shot up into them from his impact on the ravine floor. He could feel cool water rushing along the side of his body. As he tried to lift himself up, he felt someone sitting on his back.

"Puyo...are you alive?"

"Yes. I'm glad you are, too." Puyo slid off Necrom, wavering slightly as he stood. Necrom picked himself up, taking care to stand in the water. He felt the top of his head and realized with dismay that his helmet was gone. He sighed, trying to think of how he could leave the ravine safely. He looked ahead at the entrance of the ravine, which he was very close to; a waterfall with the ocean as its source, not far from where he and Puyo were. He could either try to swim up, or he could continue further into the ravine until he reached a shady area, which was also not far from his position. Looking up, he could see that Klack was gone, most likely to find Slim and Arachne.

"What do we do?" Puyo asked.

"If I try to leave this puddle, I will combust. We will have to wait for nightfall when it will be safe for me to try and head up the waterfall."

"But I can't wait that long!" Puyo cried. "I won't burn!"

"Yes, I know. Listen, could you please search the ravine for help? Perhaps another mob or an animal for me to eat?"

"No. I don't want to."

"Puyo, be reasonable. No one will hurt you if you explain your mission, and Steve isn't likely to come here. There are so many other places in Genesia he could be right now. Is it that lava fall you see in the distance? Don't worry; you won't get burned if you just go around it."

"No, that's not it."

"Then why won't you help me?"

"Because...I don't want to leave you alone. And...I'm scared and feel weak."

Necrom turned to look at Puyo, taking notice of the many bruises on his green and white skin. The Zombie remembered just why they were down here, and the facts made him realize that he was in no position to give orders to the wounded child.

"Puyo, I'm so sorry," Necrom said, placing an arm affectionately around the child's shoulders. "My actions have been deplorable, and it is through my mistakes that we are in this predicament. For the time being, it would be more fitting if I were to temporarily be subservient to you, after my own stupidity sent us down here. In fact, I nearly had you killed!"

"Almost," Puyo reminded him. "But you saved me, so it's okay now."

"No, Puyo, it isn't! How can you be so forgiving of my cruelty?"

"You weren't cruel. You didn't mean to. And everyone needs forgiveness. Even if they don't want it."

"Puyo, your philosophical musings are...confusing. I must politely say that I believe you are mistaken. Not everyone deserves forgiveness. Not me, for the way I nearly killed you, not Arachne, for her rudeness, and certainly not Steve!"

"No. You're wrong. You didn't mean to push me, and I was being stupid by looking down here anyway. Arachne isn't rude, she's just upset. And Steve...he can be forgiven, too. But Steve will never hear us forgive him." Necrom rubbed his head in disbelief, nursing the bruises. Perhaps all Creepers thought like Puyo did?

"Puyo, will you be alright if I tell that I don't believe that?"

"Yes, it's okay."

"Good. Just one more thing, Puyo. Why are you scared? You're with me, and nothing's going to hurt you."

"I'm scared because I don't want you to die, or stay down here forever. You're our leader, and Klack can't always make sure I get enough food, or stop Arachne when she gets mad, or keep us going when our feet are tired. We need you, Necrom, and I really, really, need you. If I go away now, I may not see you again. What if Steve comes and kills you? Or what if the others come back and rescue you but not me?"

"We would search for you, Puyo. We would never leave you behind, you know that."

"But what if you didn't find me? What if Steve found me instead?"

"Puyo, as long as I am alive I will not let that happen. I promise. I need to, to make up for how I sent us down here."

"You already did that when you caught me."

"Oh, I did? Well then...let's just sit here and wait. Our wounds should heal eventually. I trust that Klack has gone to find the others."

**. . . . .**

Klack finally found Slim and Arachne in the forest as Slim was telling her story, with the Spider occasionally chiming in with commentary.

"I, along with a few others of my generation, had been drafted into the Extra-Dimensional Force-the Endermen whose duty it is to go here. The Ender Dragon personally saw us off, and we went through the Portal, filled with patriotic duty for our parent. We found ourselves underground, in a Stronghold that apparently once been a prison of some sort. Other mobs like you were there, as well as some blue spiders that tended to dwell in a mostly wooden mine shaft, which I believe the prisoners were meant to work on as they served their time here."

"Cave spiders. Related to my own species. Good to see that you saw them. They're getting rare nowadays, and I'll bet you it's his doing."

"Most likely, I'm afraid. The others with me split up save for one boy. He had been assigned to be my partner while I was deployed here, and it would be our job to sabotage his efforts by stealing his raw materials, as well as frustrating him with our teleportation. My partner's name was Gauntler. I-I think I loved him. We were very close, and to be honest our first few days here were spent falling in love and exploring the prison together. We found a library, and Gauntler did his best to try and translate the books into Ender. The room was a little too small for us, but we were happy in that library."

"Awww! That's actually kind of sweet! Better than how Spiralung and I met, let me tell you."

"And then Steve came, searching for treasure and whatnot. He saw us and kept his head low, thinking that we wouldn't attack. Steve slashed at Gauntler with his sword first, murdering him with a few strikes. The library was too small to warp around in. I was only saved by finally perfecting a technique I had been practicing for years, at Gauntler's insistence: how to teleport through solid objects. I did so and ended up behind the walls of the library. Steve didn't give chase because the area was dark, and he didn't want to engage any other mobs."

"Thank Notch."

"Indeed. It was then that I decided that it would be best for me to venture above ground. I was lonely those first few weeks. Other Endermen were few and far between, and they would usually only give me some food or directions to a suitable shelter before moving on.

"Yeah, there really aren't that many Endermen here. Betcha half of 'em just drown and don't realize how bad water is for them until it's too late."

"I know. When I saw a pig drinking, I thought it would be okay-but I was wrong. Just like I was the day I ran into him again."

"Oooh, tell me about that!"

"One day-and it was day, not night-I was feeling rather bold, and I took it upon myself to raid a village for food. It was the same one we went to just last night, but much less protected like it is now. I thought that perhaps Steve wasn't home, and so I teleported straight into his house. It was the large brick one with 2 floors, a basement, and a rooftop. I foolishly warped in there and found that he was home after all, and I was standing right behind him. Steve had his backed turned, and when he suddenly turned around he screamed. He tried to punch me, but I warped away in time. If he had hit me, the dogs with him could have torn me to bits."

"Nasty and vicious, those dogs. They come in packs sometimes and tear animals to shreds. Did you know they actually will eat Zombie?"

"No. I didn't. But I don't want to get off subject; I'm not quite done yet."

"Oh. Sorry."

"I never saw him again until the raid last night. I joined the group just before you did, and Necrom was very welcoming of me, and Puyo was very sweet, but troubled. I did my best to cheer him up, and he was very interested in hearing about the End. I became friends with everyone, except for you when you arrived. But now, things have finally changed, haven't they?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ten minutes ago, did you think we would be talking like this as friends, sharing stories?"

"No, but I guess you got your wish, didn't you? Guess now I have to be nice."

"It won't be as hard as you think. Remember what Necrom said?"

"How can I forget what he says?" Slim chuckled.

**. . . . .**

Klack burst through the trees, his eye sockets widened.

"There you two are! Look, cut the gossip and follow me! Necrom and Puyo just fell down a ravine!"

"Dear Notch!" Slim cried, warping repeatedly until she reached the ravine. Arachne and Klack followed close behind. When they arrived Klack called down to Necrom:

"Hey, I've got everybody now! What do you want us to do?"

"Thank you, Klack! You're a true friend in these distressing times!"

"Just shut up and give orders!" Arachne hissed.

"Yes, right. Arachne, I want you to get down here and carry Puyo up! I'm too heavy, so we'll have to find an alternate way up for me!"

"Just take the waterfall!" suggested Slim.

Necrom glanced over at it as he had before. "Possibly. But while exposed to the sunlight I will combust! I may not be able to make it in time! And will I really be able to swim up that current?"

"Just hang on, okay? We'll get Puyo up first, and then we'll talk about you!" Arachne said. She scampered down the sides of the ravine, her eight legs gripping the walls of rock. She reached the spot where Puyo and Necrom were, and Puyo climbed on her back. Arachne climbed back up with little effort, and Puyo was relieved to finally be out of the ravine. Not saying a word, he nuzzled up against Slim, who picked him up and cradled him in her arms.

"I can think of only one option for myself," Necrom said to the others. "I'll just have to do as Slim said, but wait until nightfall to escape up the waterfall. I'm not the best and swimming upwards, but it shouldn't be too hard."

"What if I just use a string to try to pull you up? I might be able to lift you then!" Arachne suggested.

"No, the fire could spread through the string!" Necrom countered. "I'll just have to wait until nightfall to swim-" Necrom froze as he peered into the darkness further into the ravine as it spread under the forest.

There Steve stood, pickaxe in hand, mining some ore from the darkness. A zombie with a helmet would be easy to spot, Necrom knew. Puyo, still in Slim's arms, gasped when he saw Steve as well.

"Everyone, keep your voices down, Steve's here!" Puyo cried in his usual quiet voice. Klack readied his bow, and Arachne began to lower some silk from her body, hoping to cause a distraction. Necrom watched as she lowered the silk to Steve's eye level, finally capturing his attention as she draped it over some Redstone ore. Steve stood perplexed, having not seen this sort of thing before appear so suddenly. Steve took the string, ripping it off easily, and looked up at the mobs staring at him with fear from above.

"Shoot, Klack!" Necrom cried. Klack did so, and Steve was hit in the face with an arrow. Steve, taking damage, aimed his own bow and tried to fire back. But Klack had the advantage of gravity, which allowed his own arrows to reach their target while Steve's had to be aimed with difficulty. As Steve tried in vain to shoot the Skeleton, his focus shifted to the fleeing, burning zombie running away from him as his aim proved futile. Steve steadied his bow once more and tried to aim at Necrom, but with 2 quick teleports Slim as at the bottom of the ravine in a dry place and whacked Steve on the head with a block of stone. Steve collapsed to the ground unconscious as Necrom began to swim up the waterfall, the flames on his body finally cooling off. He hurriedly swam up the waterfall, sticking his head in and out of the main current so that he could breathe. Necrom finally reached the top of the waterfall, where Arachne and Klack reached out to pull him up. The group wasted no time in heading to the east to find the driest route south to Sunnyshore.


	4. Chapter 4

Just minutes later, the mobs arrived in the Extreme Hills biome, just south and east of the forest. Lactated in the center of Genesia, it was mostly bordered by rivers that sometimes flowed underneath more hollow parts of the mountains. The mountains themselves rose into the sky, some of them with thin peaks and others like giant mounds at the top. The tallest of these was Mt. Saucer, which was so large and unusual that it led up to a thin, flat layer of land that lay just below the clouds. And not far from this elevated land lay two islands that floated in midair, known by all as the Saucer Islands. There was virtually nothing on these islands in the sky, but the shadows they cast on the valley below them gave them notoriety throughout Genesia.

Necrom had to swim through the mouth of the river to get to the biome. When the others had caught up with him on the north bank, he dove down underwater to get a drink. The others, save for Slim, knelt down and drank also, relieved to find that the pureness of the river water hadn't been tainted by Steve. Puyo, happy to be in a place that seemed free of Steve, jumped in the river to join Necrom and nearly splashed Slim, who warped farther away from the bank just in time. Klack also joined in on the fun, leaving his bow on the bank.

"Water. It is the one thing that Steve will never destroy. It is vital to him, just as it is vital to most of us. Never will he drain it, either in purity or literally."

As the Zombie had finished speaking, he was tackled from behind by Puyo, who had climbed up on Klack's shoulders.

Arachne scuttled across the north bank, pacing back and forth as she observed the course of the river in both directions. She went over to Slim, who was making sure to keep her distance.

"Are you wet?" Slim asked worriedly.

"No, I'm not wet! I need you to do me a favor! You too, Klack!" the Spider called to the Skeleton. Klack obeyed, his bones rattling as he shook himself dry. Puyo looked disappointed that his friend had left him. It seemed that once again he was alone with Necrom.

"Good to see you'll listen to me a few times in one day. I need you to get to the top of that mountain!" Arachne pointed with her leg to the top of the shortest mountain, known as Junior Mountain by most mobs. Unlike most of the other mountains, it was on the north side of the bank where they were, rather than that the south side like most of the mountains in the biome. Turning to Arachne, she pointed at a hill on the north side, this one sandwiched by the forest they had just skirted around to the north and the river. This hill was known as Verdant Hill, and it was significant because from its peak one had a good view of the many nearby biomes that were close together.

"Slim, you go up that other mountain by the forest! There's a waterfall, but it's on the forest side, so you're good to go! Get moving, you two!" she cried.

"What exactly do you want us to do when we get up there?" Slim asked.

"My thoughts exactly," Klack agreed. "There isn't much up there, anyway."

"Nothing but a view that is!" Arachne countered. "Slim; look out at the plains to the east of the forest, not too far from where we are. And Klack, look out at the Temperate River southeast of us. It divides the desert east of this biome and the taiga south of it!"

"How do you know all this?" Klack asked.

"I've been places. Now go!" Arachne hissed.

**. . . . .**

The two mobs did as instructed. When Slim reached the top of Verdant Hill, she looked out at the plains, the biome whose western coastline they had just camped out in the night before. Slim looked out the plains, which were even larger than the Extreme Hills biome and spanned far to the eastern ends of Genesia. At its southeast border was the Thermal Desert, where the village of Initius lay. It was where Steve had first been spotted, but he was subsequently seen there only occasionally. Right when the desert ended and gave way to the plains lay the city of Agraria-the village in which Steve lived. Nothing unusual about it, Slim thought, if one could call that city natural. But then she saw something that caught her eye-the lake that lay right outside of Agraria. Ever since she had known about it, it had just been an oxbow lake with no connection to the rivers whatsoever. But now there seemed to be a very rectangular blue line connecting it and the rivers in the hills. Slim wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but she could tell that it was not good news. She also noticed a number of tall wooden structures standing conspicuously on plains, stretching farther than she could see.

**. . . . .**

On Junior Mountain, Klack looked southeast into the Thermal Desert. He didn't visit this place very often, as the hot sun and total lack of rain repelled most Skeletons and Zombies from visiting the desert unless they had a very good reason. But looking out the sandy expanse, he saw something that surprised him: Strange wooden structures that stood taller than any tree he had ever seen. At first glance, they seemed to be placed somewhat haphazardly throughout the desert, but on closer inspection Klack noticed that they were arranged to lead up Mount Sandview, a tall, thin mountain at the edge of the desert not far from where he was, named for having a view of the desert and because sand from that biome had piled up there on one side over the years. And other mountains seemed to have these wooden structures on them as well. Looking out at the base of Mount Sandview to the south, Klack saw the source of the Temperate River, a river which divided the cold taiga known as the Frigid Forest, located directly south beyond the hills of the Extreme Hills Biome, and the heat of the desert through some inexplicable mystery. While the river was frozen on the taiga side, it was not on the desert side. Klack followed with his eyes the mouth of the river far to the south beyond him to its source, at the base of Mt. Sandview. There he noticed something slightly unusual: a large hole was connecting it and the river that ran through the hills where there had not been any connection before. It could only mean one thing, if Klack's assumption was correct...

**. . . . .**

"Something's not right, I'm telling you!" Arachne hissed at Necrom. "Can't you get it through your rotting head that just because the river looks the same doesn't mean it couldn't have changed a little?!"

"Calm yourself, Arachne! I see no torches here to indicate Steve's presence. If he had visited this area and tampered with the natural flow of the river, surely I would be able to tell!" Necrom argued. "And because of your fears, you've sent Slim and Klack out on a wild goose chase to confirm them! I can see through your tricks, you know! Shame on you, Arachne, manipulating those around you!"

"I'm not manipulating anybody! You're not being a very good leader at the moment, anyway! All you've done after our failed raid was get yourself trapped in a ravine where you almost died, and just splashed around so to keep Puyo happy! What about the rest of us, eh? Puyo forgave you long ago, so stick to helping the people that need it instead of moping around and sucking up to Puyo!"

"At least I have compassion, Arachne! The only thing you've been contributing to the group is bitterness and rude remarks! You are very fortunate the others are so much more forgiving of you than I am. Truthfully, if it was down to just the two of us, I would part with you very quickly, you worthless bug!"

"Grr...just you wait and see, I'll prove you wrong!" she cried, scuttling up Junior Mountain to search for Klack. As she left to go get him, Slim suddenly warped in Necrom's face.

"Great Notch, you frightened me!" he cried, nearly falling down. Slim blushed in embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry! It's just that I've come back with important news!" she explained. "There seem to be extra parts of the river that I haven't ever seen before, leading to this area. I also saw wooden structures off in the distance, and they were taller than any trees I'd ever seen. What do you think they could mean?" she asked.

"Oh, Notch...was Arachne correct in her notions?" Necrom asked himself aloud. Just then, Klack and Arachne came back down the mountain, also eager to report to Necrom. Even Puyo had joined the group on the north bank, curious as to what was going on.

"Weird stuff," Klack said grimly. "The Temperate River joins up with this one now and there are all sorts of wooden-"

"I know," Necrom interrupted. "Slim gave me a similar report." Facing Arachne, he added, "You were right; something is amiss."

"I told you," she said, the rage gone from her voice. "I guess it would make more sense for me to have some eyewitness accounts. Oh, well."

"Arachne, please forgive me! First Puyo, now you! Why, Notch, why have I been so callous and neglecting of my friends?!" Necrom cried aloud. Arachne shook her head in disgust.

"Quit whining, I don't care about a few minutes ago! The important thing is, now that we've seen weird stuff, we've gotta make sense of it. You guys have any idea what it could be?" she asked the group. "I've got a feeling that it's just something he made to alter the landscape to his advantage."

"Canals," Klack said to the group. "Basically, they're stuff you make when a river doesn't quite go as far as you want it to, so you connect it to another body of water. I think it means that Steve's trying to get around more easily through the rivers, to make water travel easier for him."

"So, water is used for drinking _and_ travelling?" Slim wondered. "Then I guess those canals just outside the lake by Agraria are used so that Steve can get down here quickly by boat."

"I agree. The idea is appalling to me!" Necrom added. "For Steve to alter the landscape in any way for the sake of selfish convenience...Notch, it aggravates me!" he cried.

"But, uh...wouldn't make there be more water? And wouldn't that be good for us?" Puyo asked. Klack smacked his skull, his bones making a sound akin to his name.

"No, no! Canals are bad for us! It makes him go places faster, so that Steve can kill us faster!" Puyo gasped in fear, but then he had another question.

"But...aren't the boats Steve uses good for us? If we ride them instead?" Puyo asked.

"Gah, why are you so stupid?!" Klack screamed at him. "We. Do. Not. Ride. Boats!"

Puyo began to sniffle as a few tears ran down his face. He then began to sob loudly.

"Klack, don't be so mean to me!" he whined, burying his face in Slim once again. Slim took Puyo in and admitted to Klack, "I don't see why he's getting this upset."

"Puyo, you're not stupid, I just sometimes forget that you're just a kid," Klack said. Necrom tapped Puyo on the shoulder, and the Creeper turned around to face him.

"Listen, my son, appearances can be very deceiving. Just because something doesn't appear dangerous doesn't mean that it is friendly. Boats and canals by themselves are perfectly useless. A boat is just a structure of wood that can't hurt you. In fact, if Slim were to ride in a boat, she could travel across water without drowning or getting hurt if she stayed in safely. And a canal is not dangerous because, yes, it does give us more water to drink and swim in."

"Oh. Well, why are you all making such a big deal about this?" Puyo asked.

"We are worried that Steve made these things just so that Steve could travel across the land more quickly and take more of our natural environment away from us and give it to himself. It won't harm the river or the fish in it if he alters the courses of the river just a little, but at the same time it provides no advantages to us and all the advantages to him."

"So, canals and boats are bad because Steve is using them?" Puyo asked.

"Yes," Necrom replied. "Now Klack, apologize for yelling and Puyo and calling him stupid."

"It's okay. He didn't mean it. I guess I was being pretty dumb," Puyo said. "But now I know better. Thank you, Necrom and Klack! And thank you, Slim and Arachne!" The Creeper nuzzled all of the monsters one by one. Even Arachne had to admit that it was very sweet of him. But then Puyo grew curious once more:

"Necrom, what about those wooden things you were all talking about? How are those bad?" Puyo asked.

"Yes, that is a reasonable query," Necrom agreed. "Puyo, do you remember being back with your parents when you and your siblings first hatched from your eggs?"

"Oh, yes, I do! It was very nice because mommy and daddy were giving us food! But now they're gone. But it's okay now, because now I have all of you!" he said.

While Klack, Arachne, and Slim stood there, too stunned to speak, Necrom continued explaining.

"Now, Puyo, suppose a great big tree were to appear right in front of your nest, even though it was underground and trees aren't supposed to grow there. Just pretend, okay?"

"Okay. Wow! I'm pretending, and I don't think that tree needs to be there. In fact, it's taking up space and looks very ugly. I'm getting mad just thinking about it! I'm so mad, I...ssss..." Necrom's eyes widened as he held down Puyo. The other mobs fled a little ways before Necrom calmed the Creeper down.

"Puyo, relax! Calm yourself!" Necrom exclaimed. Puyo did so, just in time. "It was only pretend; it wasn't really there at all. Now, do you see how irritating it is for something to be where it shouldn't be?"

"Well, the tree is bad, but...no. I don't see what's wrong with the wood things. Maybe Steve was trying to plant trees on the mountains?"

"No, Puyo, those were not trees, even though they were made of wood. They are abominations and must be destroyed, just like the water in the canals. It needs to be clogged. Do you understand what we are going to do, Puyo?"

"Yes."

"Will you assist us, then, now that we have all of the night to work?"

"I'll help you with the canals, but I don't see what's wrong with the wood things." Klack sighed, and Slim shook her head.

"Puyo, the wood things are-" Necrom began again, but Arachne stopped him.

"Forget it, he's just a kid. He won't get it," she said. "Listen, Puyo, you need to help us, even though you don't understand what's going on. Got it?"

"Okay!" Puyo said. "Maybe this will be fun! I sure hope it will!"

"Good," Necrom said to Puyo. "Now, do you know what we're going to do now?"

"What?" Puyo asked.

"Sabotage!" Necrom said almost gleefully.


	5. Chapter 5

**. . . . .**

Underneath one of the mountains, close to the mouth of the river, a pool of lava lay like a Notchsend close to where the mobs were. Klack took off his gold helmet, and each mob took turns using it to scoop up lava and pour it on the wooden structures, taking care to put out the lava with water when the helmet was emptied and the lava was done destroying the wood. A few times, Puyo was too slow, and the lava spilled into the river, forming cobblestone alongside the obsidian.

"That is perfectly alright, Puyo," Necrom reassured him. "The cobblestone will prevent Steve from sailing in his canals. He isn't likely to bring a pickaxe when he goes sailing, and when he goes back to get one it will provide us with even more time. That is, should we fail to finish our task before nightfall."

But the mobs worked quickly, and the lava spilled into the rivers and down the mountains, all while Steve was asleep. Arachne hurriedly grabbed Klack's helmet each time the lava seemed to get out of hand, scooping it up at the source at which it was dumped and re-pouring it into the river, making more cobblestone. This process was repeated all throughout the night, until finally the sun rose and the mobs headed further south.

The mobs either scaled or went around the mountains with ease, arriving at another section of the river that led south. The sun quickly rose back in the sky, and Necrom wasted no time getting in the river that led to Sunnyshore. This one had the Extreme Hills biome on its western bank and the taiga on its eastern bank. A few boats lay in the river, abandoned by Steve.

"Now what?" Arachne asked the group. "We could head east into the taiga and simply cross the river, but then Steve would be able to follow us easily!" Puyo glanced at Arachne and said:

"There are boats here. I think we should all ride them! It would be much faster than crossing the river and going all around the taiga!"

"Puyo, have you forgotten that water is very dangerous for Slim?" Necrom asked politely. Slim, normally sympathetic for the young Creeper, gasped in horror.

"Puyo, no! I don't want to die!" Slim cried hysterically. Arachne hissed at her.

"Relax, you don't have to do what the brat said!" she argued. "Just warp over to the other side of the river and be done with it!"

"Puyo, what did I tell you about riding boats?" Klack demanded. Puyo shrunk back in fear as the other mobs save Necrom glared at him angrily for his horrible suggestion.

"Calm yourselves, everyone! Don't lose your composure simply because Puyo...had a lapse of poor judgment just now," Necrom told everyone. "I'm sure he had some vague notion that he perceived as a good reason for us to go sailing, despite some of us being vigorously opposed to it. Well, Puyo?"

"I...I just wanted Klack and Slim to ride with me, really," Puyo said. "Slim won't get hurt if she stays on the boat and doesn't rock it. I-I wanted to help her face her fear. Just like how you helped me face mine, Necrom, back at the ravine."

"Puyo, that's very sweet of you, but I don't think you understand-" Slim began. But Puyo wasn't done yet.

"And I wanted Klack to come with me because I wanted to see if he was wrong about boats being bad. Maybe boats are fun?" Puyo asked the group challengingly. "Besides, it's my turn to make a decision!"

"Puyo, we don't 'take turns' making decisions!" Arachne chided.

"Yeah, we do! Klack got to decide where we go, Necrom decided how we would go there, and you got to decide what we did on the way earlier! It's my turn now, and then it'll be Slim's turn!"

"Puyo, do be reasonable. We can't just pander to your wishes!" Necrom said, patting Puyo on the head and trying to stop himself from chuckling a little. Puyo looked at Slim in the eyes and begged:

"Please?" he said weakly. "I'll let us stay near the bank, so that you can get out if you want! And could you come too, Klack?" Klack would have rolled his eyes, if he had actually had any. Slim went over and patted Puyo's head nervously.

"...Okay. I'll do it. But...just for you. I don't want to do it again," Slim said.

"That's fine. Just this one time!" Puyo said, smiling. Klack followed him into the boat and climbed in. Slim took a deep breath and teleported into the boat with them.

"We'll swim close by in case there's trouble," Arachne said. "Plus, the closer to Sunnyshore we get, the more squids there'll be!"

**. . . . .**

And so the three mobs set out in the boat, with Arachne and Necrom following close behind. Slim fidgeted nervously, but Puyo nuzzled against her to calm her down. Klack stared out ahead, attempting to navigate the boat with 2 sticks he had found from nearby trees in the taiga.

"Don't touch me with the sticks," Slim said nervously. "Even the slightest amount of water will-"

"Shh, I know, I'm trying to steer us through this river," Klack said. Eventually, a current grew enough strength to carry the boat without Klack paddling, and when this happened he turned to face Puyo.

"Well, kid, you got us out here, now what?" he asked. Puyo looked at him with anxious eyes.

"Klack, why are you so grumpy now? You used to be nice to me, until Arachne told you to go to the mountains. What made you so upset?" Klack sighed, his jawbone creaking slightly.

"Look, kid, this isn't fun and games anymore. Arachne right now has more sense than Necrom does. Maybe I'll be proven wrong, or maybe I won't. But no matter what happens, you're still important to me, okay, Puyo? You've been a great brother, if that's how you want to see it."

"Why does that mean so much to you?" Puyo asked. Klack glanced at Slim, his eyeless sockets staring at her. For Slim, the look was enough, but Puyo needed a proper explanation.

"Puyo, what order did we all join up with Necrom?" Klack asked rhetorically.

"First it was me, then you, then Slim, then Arachne."

"Yeah. I didn't tell you or the others about my life before all this until now. It wasn't important for you to know then. But I guess you can know now.

I was born in a cave, with several other siblings. I started out mostly constructed of cartilage-it's this stuff that my ears and nose would be made out of, if I had those-and it became bone in a few years' time. Right when I was old enough to walk, I joined the rest of my siblings in learning how to fire a bow. Archery is our race's art, and we take pride in being the only mobs able to do such a thing. I was especially skilled, even better than my parents. And among us skeletons, archery abilities are everything.

My other siblings grew jealous of me, both the younger and older ones. As I wandered the network of caves sometimes, trying to get away from the pressure of an annoying family at my spine, some of my older siblings would follow me. I'll never forget the day my oldest sister 'accidentally' shot an arrow inches from my skull. Like I was some kind of target. But the others were a little more subtle. They did everything they could to try and cripple me for life. Tripping me, beating me when my parents weren't around-not like they cared-destroying my bow so that I had to go find a new one-they never ran out of ways to try and mess my life up."

"Didn't you ever...stand up for yourself?" Slim asked.

"Didn't really occur to me, and here's why: the very first time they got at me-one of the little ones crushed my wrist with a rock while I was sleeping-I went to my mom and dad. My mom said, 'Hope it gets better!' and left my dad to deal with me. He basically just sucked up a bunch of air telling me how that was nature's way of 'equalizing' everybody, and that things would happen to me because I was just better than everyone else at archery apparently. It wasn't like they didn't have their own talents, though. My third oldest brother eventually learned how to cook, my little sister could sing, and my oldest sister could fire faster than anybody else, even me. But accuracy was all that mattered, and I had nailed it. And because of this, my father left me to deal with the rest of my family alone, telling me that I could handle it because I was the greatest child he had. He might have been right."

"How did you get out?" Slim asked.

"I just up and left one day. Learned my way through the tunnels and climbed out. Ended up in the far northwest corner of Genesia, where the cave opened up. Necrom was in the cave, too, and he offered for me to join him."

"Oh, I was right outside there!" Puyo exclaimed. "I remember! Necrom said 'Puyo, a new friend will be joining us', and then you met me!"

Klack smiled, slapping a hand on Puyo's shoulder affectionately. "Yeah, you were the little brother I always wanted. And the best part? You're a still a kid, and not the annoying kind."

"Thank you, Klack!" Puyo nuzzled against Klack's ribs happily. Slim sat down in the boat with them, bravely concealing her fear of the water as Klack sailed through the bends of the river. After telling her and Arachne's backstories to Klack and Puyo, the Creeper nuzzled the Enderwoman yet again.

"You see now, Puyo, why we didn't want to tell you about us earlier?" she said. Puyo nodded.

"It must have been hard for both of you. But it's okay now, because we're all together!" he cried.

"Yeah. Hey, if it's not too much to ask, how did you meet Necrom?" Klack asked. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

"No, I need to tell you," Puyo said. "You both did it, and now it's my turn. Once upon a time, I hatched out of an egg on the edge of the Thermal Desert, on that little part right across the Temperate River where it goes into the taiga. It was very cold near us, and very warm on the other side. That made the cactus where I hatched just right, all nice and cozy. I had a few brothers and sisters, but we mostly just fought over food our parents chewed up for us. Our mom was always telling us stories when she guarded the nest, until dad came back from hunting and took her place. Then he would let us ride on his back while he swam in the river.

We were just about to learn how to swim for ourselves that night when Steve came, placing torches on our little spot. My parents got really mad, and...sniffle...made him go follow them across the river and into the desert. I remember looking all the way out, and I saw Steve hit my dad with a sword until...he killed him!" Puyo suddenly gasped and began to cry. Slim placed a hand over his mouth to indicate that he could stop, but Puyo shrugged her off and kept going.

"And then mom tried to run away, backing away from Steve until she came to the river. She blew up, right there, in front of all of us! Steve died, but not for good. We were so little, and we didn't know what to do, so we just ran away into the woods behind the nest, and none of us ever came back. Sniffle...sorry for crying."

"It's okay, Puyo," Slim said. "You don't have to go on." Puyo dried his eyes.

"Good, because that was it. I ran all the way through the forest, then I climbed around the mountains, and then I wondered around through the plains until I met Necrom, who took me across the ocean because he said that Steve was rumored to start living around that spot soon. And he was right!" Puyo hung his head over the boat, looking out at the water with sorrow. Klack laid the oars down in the boat, tired of rowing. Slim looked at the two of them, noticing that their spirits had obviously dropped from having to share their depressing life stories.

"Liven up, you two!" she cried. "Puyo, wasn't it your idea to go on this sailing trip?" she asked him.

"Yeah, but I don't feel so happy anymore," he said.

"Well, you should at least feel...relief," Slim said, trying to find an appropriate word. Klack looked at her as if she had just swallowed a cow whole.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Why should we feel that way?"

"Because," Slim explained, "You two, as well as Arachne and I, have just shown me how we are all a family."

"You mean, we're not just people that hang out together, like Arachne said?" Puyo asked excitedly.

"No, we are much more than that. We all suffered and had our lives changed forever because of Steve. He sought to destroy our respective ways of life, but we proved that when we band together we can pick up the pieces of our shattered lives and make a new family out of the diaspora and the sorrow. Can't you see, Puyo? We survived the terrible things that Steve caused to either kill us or make us live in fear of him forever. And thanks to Klack's planning and Necrom's leadership, we don't have to be afraid of him anymore. With the way you both told your stories, I realized that we are all on the same page, all five of us. And with the way Necrom talks, I'm confident that he hates Steve as much as we do."

"Slim, I can see what you're getting at, but there's one problem," Klack interrupted. "I never met Steve, ever. My parents always warned us about him, sure, and that was why they taught us archery, but he never came and tried to kill us-well, not until after I left, but that's beside the point."

"True. But look at it this way. How long has your race been skilled with a bow?" Slim asked.

"Long before Steve came along," Klack answered. "My people used to go up to the surface and hunt with them, but my generation was apparently the first to be confined underground."

"Because of Steve, though," Slim argued. "It was because of Steve that your parents became so determined to make sure you were all perfect at shooting the bow. Had he not been there, your parents would have had no way to set you against each other. If you and your family had been peaceful hunters, it wouldn't have mattered how well you could land a killing shot quickly enough-everyone could work together to bring down an animal, could they not?"

"Yeah, they could. If we had ever gone hunting. But _no_, my parents insisted that silverfish were _good _for us!" Klack said bitterly. "If Steve hadn't been there, they'd have had no incentive to make us all try and be better than each other, and then they wouldn't have gotten jealous when I was the only one who could actually have a chance in the world!"

"A world without Steve," Slim continued. "Gauntler and I could have lived happily in the library."

"My family would have actually loved me, rather than just looked at me as a weapon," Klack said.

"And mom would never have had to blow up!" Puyo cried. Klack picked up the oars and began to row to the bank. The mobs got out and finally saw Sunnyshore in the distance. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, Arachne and Necrom finally arrived.

"It will be several hours before I can finally return to dry land," Necrom said as he treaded water in the river. "Now that we have finally reached our destination, it is time for us to find a suitable base of operations to plan and rest in before beginning the siege. Because Sunnyshore is on the east bank of mouth of the river-the side you are all standing on at present-the base should also be on the side, although regrettably the west bank has a much greater surface area that isn't covered in snow."

"Okay, find a base, got it!" Arachne said, rushing off to search for just that. Before the others went to follow her, Necrom asked, "How did the boat ride go?"

"We all realized what we have in common," Slim said. "We truly are united against Steve, just like you said."

"Ah, so you finally all explained your origins to each other, then?" Necrom asked. They all looked confused for a moment, then looked at each other in understanding.

"Now I see what happened," Slim said, speaking for the 3 of them. "You must have all told Necrom what happened to you without telling the rest of us until now!" Klack shrugged.

"I had just run into him, and he asked so many questions," he said sheepishly. "It was easier telling him because he was just a total stranger."

"I thought it was okay to tell him, too," Puyo asked.

"Why didn't you let everyone know about each other's backstories?" Slim asked Necrom.

"I thought it would be best for you all to grow comfortable with each other, after we had traveled together for a while. There was a reason that I thought we could successfully take Agraria. It was erroneous and foolish in hindsight, but when we all survived Steve's onslaught I knew that someday we could take him on, together, on our terms. And that is what we are going to do in a few days."

"Yeah. You know, I think we can actually do this," Klack said hopefully.

"Indeed; I have always had confidence in all 4 of you," Necrom agreed. "Now go and find a suitable base, before Arachne finds a stash of food somewhere and eats it all before you can stop her!" Klack and Slim went out into the plains with Arachne, who was by this time very impatient. But Puyo stayed behind for just a little while longer.

"Thanks for believing in us. And our family," he said gratefully. Necrom reached out from the water and hugged him.

"One day, Puyo, when Steve is dead, we will truly be a family, always together. Just you wait!" Necrom gave Puyo a tight squeeze, and then Puyo went off to join the others. But then he asked:

"Necrom, what about you? We've all said where we were before we met each other, but what about you? What did you do?"

"I will tell you another time," Necrom said. "Right now we have more urgent matters." Puyo realized that Necrom was right, and so he went and obeyed the Zombie.


	6. Chapter 6

The other mobs besides Necrom now all stood at the foot of one of three chasms scattered on the eastern bank of the river, all very close to the taiga. All three had leaders leading down, most likely placed there by Steve.

"These ladders don't look like a good sign," Slim informed the others. She was staring down into the deepest of the three with Klack. Puyo and Arachne were looking down at the other two.

"Yeah, if he's been here already, who knows how much damage he's done?" Klack asked aloud. Slim's eyes widened as she looked into the darkness, recognizing what she saw.

"Everyone! Get over here! I know this place!" Slim cried. Arachne and Puyo obeyed.

"This is the abandoned prison camp I came from!" she declared. "There's the mineshaft below, and I can see the stronghold below that! We've got to go down this way! It's been such a long time since I was here!" she cried. Klack shrugged and followed her down the ladder. Puyo followed as well, not wishing to be alone. Arachne shrugged and said to herself:

"Eh, fine, whatever, but Steve's already been here, you should know what to expect!" Slim heard her comment, but she chose to ignore it. When she reached the stronghold, she hurried off with Puyo to explore it. Klack and Arachne went above them to the mineshaft to search for anyone they could find.

Slim eyed the torches placed around the stronghold nervously, realizing that they weren't supposed to be that many. She was about to call out and see if someone answered when Puyo cried, "Help! I'm stuck!" The Creeper had accidentally locked himself in one of the cells. Slim pressed the button on her side and let him out.

"Don't bother checking the cells, Puyo. There won't be anything there-" Slim gasped when she saw what was in the cell adjacent to the one Puyo had gotten stuck in. Inside, lit by a torch, where a pile of bodies, most of them not very old at all, all lay in a heap. She guessed there were about 20 or so, all shoved in that one tiny space. It was mostly Zombies, Skeletons, and Spiders, but she could see a 2 Creepers and an Enderman as well. The species of the dead didn't matter to her at all. Puyo looked where Slim was and quickly hid behind her.

"Let's get away from here! I don't want to be here!" Puyo cried. Slim held Puyo's hand and led him past the pileup, heading down a stairway at the end of the hall of cells. Going further down, they noticed that parts of the floor had caved in, and large holes in the walls opened up into the surrounding cave. Everywhere they looked, they saw more dead bodies. Apparently Steve had stopped trying to collect them all into one place at some point, letting the corpses lie where they may.

Slim eventually remembered the way to the library, and she went with Puyo in there. All of the books had been taken from the shelves, now empty. Gauntler, Slim's boyfriend, was no longer dead on the floor, but Slim knew exactly where he had lied.

"Let's not stay here, either, Puyo. I don't want to remember this place. It could have been our home, but...Steve."

"I know," Puyo said, nuzzling against her. "Was Gauntler nice? Would he have liked me?" he asked.

"Yes...Gauntler would have loved you very much," Slim said, giving the Creeper a hug.

Finally, the two found the frames of the End Portal at the bottom of the stronghold. The portal was still there and very inviting to Slim. Puyo looked at her with sorrow.

"You want to go back," he said, tears welling in his eyes. "Please don't leave me, Slim. I know it's scary, but we have to make it through together!"

Slim looked at the portal, and back at Puyo. It wasn't long before she made her decision. She picked up an Eye of Ender from one of the portal frames, took a rock, and crushed it. The portal was no longer useable.

"Now, I can never go back," she said. "But neither can Steve. And that is what is important."

"He doesn't need to," said a voice. Slim and Puyo turned around and found another Enderman standing in front of Slim. She didn't recognize him.

"Slim. Good to see you made it out," he said flatly. "You probably don't remember me, do you?"

"No, I can't say I do," Slim said.

"I was part of your squadron," he said. "We were the last group to be issued."

"What happened?" Slim asked.

"Our Mother is dead." There was no sorrow in the Enderman's voice. Slim turned to look at the portal frames again, then back at the Enderman.

"How...how are you so sure of this?" she asked, trembling.

"I saw him. Steve. A few trips in here, and he had gathered enough Eyes of Ender to go in. He had to kill some of us to do it, but he did it. I and a few others tried following him in, but it was too late. He had killed her and returned to his home. It was futile."

Slim stood in shock and sadness. Puyo held her hand gently in his teeth, practically dragging her along.

"Come on, Slim. Let's leave this place," Puyo said.

"Yes," Slim said simply. "Puyo, let's never come here again."

"Okay."

When the two got out and met up with Arachne and Klack, the sobs and the wails finally began for Slim. Arachne had nothing to say about the matter. When Slim had explained what she and Puyo had seen and cried so much that her head ached, Arachne told her what had happened in the mineshaft. Her voice had lost all its usual snarkiness and sarcasm.

"There were bodies everywhere. All the cave spiders I saw were dead. Everything else, too. There seemed to be some abandoned spots in the caves, where Steve hadn't been...but no one was there."

"This place isn't safe," Klack said. "What did you guys find?" Slim told him, and the others agreed that it would be best to return to the surface. Now that it was night, they could all search together for a base. This place was far too depressing to stay in.

The mobs climbed up the ladder and found Necrom at the entrance. They had expected him to be there now that the sun was gone, but they didn't expect to see another mob with him.

"Who are you?" Slim asked as she and the others climbed out of the chasm. They each reacted to this stranger differently.

"Yay, another Creeper!" Puyo said, almost forgetting the horrors he had seen below.

"Uh, Necrom, why is this guy wearing a white cape?" Klack asked. Aside from Zombies, clothing on mobs was seen as unusual, and possibly dangerous.

"Oh, great, you found another Puyo clone. Just what we need! I'm sure he'll be a great help when the villagers in Sunnyshore have to guess which one we know better!" she cried. The new Creeper ignored her comment and asked Necrom:

"Why would you go to Sunnyshore? If you need food, there is plenty in the taiga, provided that you know where to look."

"The others will be very grateful for your hospitality soon enough," Necrom said. "Everyone, this gentleman is Radius. He is the leader of the residents of Frigidity, a city that apparently encompasses almost all of the Frigid Forest. We met not ten minutes ago, and I have explained to him that we need shelter for a few nights. He has welcomed us to Frigidity, a land untouched by Steve. Shall we join him in the city?" Necrom asked the group.

"Yeah, sure! It sounds like fun!" Puyo said. "Much better than what we saw down there."

"Yes. Steve raided that place long ago, I'm afraid," Radius said. "Many of our residents are refugees from this area."

"I'd love to see the city," Slim said. "I've heard that it never rains in the taiga, and all the water is solid and harmless. Is this true?"

"Yes, madam, it certainly is!" Radius exclaimed. While there is some water here that isn't frozen, it is mostly just the sea. And rain falls here as harmless snow. Many Endermen such as yourself have already settled here."

"What about Skeletons?" Klack asked. "I take it you guys don't see much of Steve, so what does that mean?"

"What do you think?" Radius asked. "Out of species pride, most Skeletons still possess their bows, but none of them ever go out in public with them except to hunt. There is no need to, now that no one here will hurt them. How does that sound to you?"

Klack thought about this for a moment, remembering how he was raised. Realizing that this was what he wanted all along, he replied, "It sounds like a dream come true."

"Well, Arachne? How do you feel about staying here for a while?" Necrom asked her. Arachne stared at Radius with contempt and sighed.

"Fine. We can stay for a little while. But this isn't going to be our permanent residence or anything! Remember what we came all this way for!" she reminded everyone desperately.

"I'm sure you'll find what it is you're looking for in Frigidity. Follow me!" The Creeper then went off eastward. The mobs were about to follow him when Necrom stopped them momentarily.

"I must warn you all of something before we enter the city," Necrom said. "Make little mention of our plans to besiege Sunnyshore. I did not tell Radius when I met him for fear of him not allowing us to take residence, albeit temporarily. The people of Frigidity seem to be a peaceful sort, and as such they may not be welcoming of our plans. However, should you meet anyone you find to be sympathetic to our cause, see if you can't try and recruit them. Truth be told, that is our primary reason for accepting Radius' hospitality. Now all of you split up and report back here when you are all done seeing the city. It is then we will decide our next move."


	7. Chapter 7

His plain shoes crushed the grass beneath him as he walked toward the sabotage, gazing in dismay at the stones lodged so haphazardly in his efficient system of transport. Scowling, he stood on the edge of the river and looked out at the mountains, taking note of all of the piles of burnt wood at their peaks. After a disgruntled sigh, he turned around and went back to his home, returning in minutes with a pickaxe, a sword made of diamond, some wood and a bucket, travelling via the river by boat. While staying in it, he broke each and every piece of cobblestone in his way, satisfying the wayward current by dumping water in the appropriate areas. After sailing a certain distance he finally stepped out of his boat to investigate the pool of lava underneath one of the mountains. Sure enough, someone had tampered with it, and he quickly fixed the problem, replenishing the lava. Glancing at the sky, he saw that the moon wasn't going to be going away anytime soon. So he went back to his house to get some sleep.

Steve was very angry.

**. . . . .**

Slim wandered the world of Frigidity, feeling as if she had stepped into a completely different world from the rest of Genesia, and certainly The End. She had seen the outskirts of this place, but never had she been inside the taiga to fully observe the snow, piled almost everywhere on the ground that wasn't underneath a tree. The trees in question seemed to be columns of wood rather than actual trees, with platforms of leaves wrapped around the trunks at certain elevations. Slim couldn't help but think of the towers of obsidian back home, and the structures both there and here seemed to make her feel protected whenever she looked at them. And rather than seem depressing, the graying of the sky above her felt almost inviting. She gave a small gasp of delight when she felt a snowflake land on her shoulder, realizing that the small amount of water it became when it melted seemed to make her skin tingle, rather than burn. She warped up to the top of one of the trees and raised her arm above to catch the snowflakes in her hand.

"Like it, eh?" A spider said on another treetop as he lounged in the web he had made for himself there. "Much better than rain, since snow doesn't wash things away or cause floods. I built my web up here just so that I could catch snow in it and watched it stick to my web. It becomes water and still sticks so that I can drink it. It's really the best way to get water here, but you probably won't be concerned with that."

"How long have you lived here?" Slim asked, warping over to the same tree as the spider.

"6 years. I wouldn't move, no matter what," he said. "Before I came here, I was always living my life in fear of Steve, and I could never stay in one place for too long."

"Sounds a lot like myself, except for I had friends. One of them was a spider, like you. But she was more hostile than hospitable."

"Really? Tell me about her," he said. Slim did so.

**. . . . .**

Klack wandered about in the snowy land, unimpressed by both the beauty of the landscape and the people that greeted him wherever he went as they went about their business, until he came to the entrance of a cave. Someone had crudely carved the words "Hunting Headquarters" in the stone outside. Klack shrugged at went, hoping it would be worth his time. Inside, he found that the cave amounted to little more than a short corridor that quickly ended just 50 feet from the entrance. At the end, a crude table had been set up, and seated in the nearby chairs were Skeletons and a few Wolves, all talking or playing some bizarre game Klack had never seen before involving cards, dice, and spruce leaves. Klack cleared his throat and drew all eyes to himself briefly.

"Hey. I'm new here. What exactly is this place?" he asked.

"Why, it's a hunting club! Didn't you read the sign?" A Skeleton that seemed to be a little older than himself declared. "Are you looking to join us? We'd love a new member!"

"Uh, maybe. Just, uh...what exactly do you all do? And why are there Wolves here?"

"Haven't you ever heard of hunting before? Every morning we go out and hunt for animals that end up here, and every night at midnight-it's not quite that time yet-we go out and hunt for them in those lit up areas where they seemed to go to at that time!" A Wolf spoke up before the Skeleton could keep going.

"We help out the pack-the Hunting Club-by tracking down the animals that get out of their range. It's common sense to for Skeletons and Wolves to work together. Got a problem with us?" the Wolf growled.

"No, no, no! I've just...I thought the Wolves all liked Steve," Klack said. This only made the Wolf growl louder.

"That's obscene! Steve brings the bones of your kind and uses them to appeal to our most savage instincts-then takes our kind to be his slaves, feeding the flesh of Zombies and forcing us to stand guard over him day and night! I think the collars he forces around their necks has something to do with it," the Wolf remarked at the end of tirade. "I believe we Wolves despise Steve even more than you ever could."

"Okay, point taken, sorry. I've just never really met a lot of Wolves before."

"That's all right; they're awfully loyal once you get on their good side!" the head Skeleton reassured. "So, you wanna join us tonight? We were just discussing where to go next! From what I've gathered the Plains are dangerous, so we've ruled them out. Almost anywhere else is fine, though, so long as we get back in time!"

"Okay. I guess I'll join," Klack said. He was, to his surprise, met with a round of applause and howls of approval.

"Well, then, newest member, would you like for us to decide where to go?" the head Wolf asked. "It would be an honor to hunt with you, so long as you carry your fair share of game as well. And that helmet you're wearing could come in handy!"

"Yeah. I've been wearing it for so long, I've practically forgotten it's there," Klack said, feeling his head. "But just wait a second, everybody. I've gotta go fine someone. She'd love to come with us!" Klack ran off in search of Arachne.

"She?! We've rarely ever had women join and stay in our club for long! Hoo hoo, this'll be a treat!" the head Skeleton cried. All the others in the Hunting Club seemed to agree.

**. . . . .**

Puyo did his best to follow Radius and his request, his four stubby legs having a little trouble getting through the snow he was unaccustomed to walking in. The snowy gray cape allowed Radius to almost blend in with the environment, if it weren't for the distinct bright green of his head. Finally, Radius stopped at the top of a short hill, heading vertically down into a tunnel that looked to have been carved by mobs, rather than by Steve or naturally. Puyo followed him inside.

"Why did you want me to follow you?" Puyo asked. With a sudden spasm of his shoulders Radius took off his cape and set it down with his teeth beside his nest, a small pile of straw. The house was very plain and essentially just a small hole in the ground big enough for a few mobs to live in, just like all the others in Frigidity. When Puyo had made himself comfortable in the dirt, Radius turned around and smiled at him, nuzzling him. Puyo didn't react to this; he was still perplexed at how such a Creeper could grow to be so tall and have a voice so loud. at least when compared to other Creepers.

"Do you not recognize me, Puyo?" Radius asked.

"Uh...no." Puyo backed up a little to get away from Radius. Radius was still smiling, however.

"Do you remember the day Steve killed our parents? And how we all ran away?"

"Yes, I remember! That was so horrible?" Puyo cried. Radius nuzzled him again.

"Wait," Puyo realized, "How would you know?"

"Don't you see, Puyo? I am one of your older brothers. Don't you remember me?" Puyo made a small gasp and looked at his alleged brother carefully. Puyo, remembering what Necrom and Arachne would do in this situation (or at least what he supposed that they would do), began to climb out of the tunnel.

"Could you come outside with me to that frozen lake?" Puyo asked. Radius obeyed, and the two Creepers reached the frozen lake, where the ice gave perfect reflections of both of them. This was how Puyo authenticated Radius' claim. Puyo smiled in disbelief when he realized that Radius was telling the truth after all. There was no way to deny it now; the two Creepers had remarkably similar wide eyes like their father, the same white streak on the back of their left legs like their mother, and the same shade of green on their skin. Puyo nuzzled his brother back when he realized all of this.

"It's true, it's true! You really are my brother!" Puyo cried in delight. The two returned to Radius' home to catch up.

"You've grown so much, Puyo. When that Zombie travelling with you mentioned a Creeper in your group, I had to see if it was you, just as I tried checking with all of the other Creepers that enter Frigidity. So far, you are the only one of my siblings that I've seen. The others all seem to be scattered or deceased, I'm afraid. Such is the life of a Creeper. I've lived here all of my life, and so I've never seen Steve like some others have. By avoiding him, I've managed to grow to the age I am now. And the Zombies in the city have been very good educators."

"Radius, I believe you're my brother and all, but how much older than me can you be? I thought we all hatched around the same time. I'm 7 years old; how old are you?"

"I'm 12 years old," Radius replied. Puyo gasped in surprise.

"I've never heard of a Creeper being that old!"

"I was born from a previous litter your parents had," Radius explained. "I visited them on occasion after leaving the nest," Radius went on. "They were 8 years old when I hatched, and they were 10 years old when you hatched. I went to visit you and the rest of your litter a few times, but you may have been too young to remember. I tried to get them to move you all to the taiga, but they insisted that they were close enough, and that there was more food in the desert."

"You must be really wise!" Puyo declared, deliberately trying to avoid discussing their parents. Radius took the hint.

"Not really," he replied, changing the subject and Puyo's cue. "I've just matured a little better than most other nomadic Creepers because I took charge of my education via the local Zombies. I'm not all that wise at all; I've just lived for a while. Did the Zombie with ever try to educate you?" he asked.

"Well, Necrom tried to teach me a few things, like how to steal food from villagers, and how to pretend to get really mad but not blow up to scare mean people, and how to hold stuff with my teeth, and how to cook squid, and how to swim, and-yes, he taught me many things!"

"That's good, but did he ever teach you how to read, how to write, how to build a house, how to properly care for a tree, how to ride a boat through the river around the taiga, and so forth?" Radius asked. Puyo shook his head.

"We never had time for that silly stuff! And besides, we clogged up parts of the river to stop Steve, so we don't need to ride boats! They make Slim-she's an Enderwoman-a little upset. But she's very brave! Do you want to meet her?" Puyo asked.

Radius was not happy. "You deliberately clogged up the river?! Do you realize how much you've abused the ecosystem?!" he cried to Puyo.

"Uh, it's okay, really! We just put stone on the canals, so that Steve couldn't catch us! And I didn't really want to, but I did it anyway because Necrom told me to!"

"So the Zombie is to blame. Of course; leave it to outsiders and foreigners to corrupt the minds of the innocent people outside of the city, making them think that they need to live their lives in fear!" Radius complained aloud. Puyo gave him a puzzled look.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Radius began to leave the tunnel once again.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said. "I just need to find this Necrom fellow and have a talk with him. Don't follow me." Puyo, curious and a little worried, disobeyed. Radius sighed when he heard Puyo's footsteps trudging through the snow.

"Very well," Radius said. Puyo sidled up beside him and followed him in pursuit of Necrom.


	8. Chapter 8

"Slim, let me go! Don't just warp me around for no reason! Haven't you ever heard of privacy, or personal space, or anything?!" Arachne cried as Slim grabbed her and teleported both of them to the top of the tree, where the spider that Slim had met was waiting.

"Hey. You look about as nice as Slim said you were," he said, waving with a leg.

"Don't patronize me. And you! Why are you setting me up?!" Arachne cried with outrage to Slim. Slim said nothing and warped away with a wink. The other spider beckoned Arachne over to his web.

"Sit down in my web. There's enough room for two. I've got some Silverfish in here, and I can put some seasoning on it to make it taste a little better-if you don't like it plain."

"I don't like it when I'm taken from nice places! Apparently Frigidity has an inn! I was just checking in there with Necrom and was about to take a nice nap in their bed-a bed!-when I got warped away here thanks to that Enderwoman!"

"Maybe she was just trying to be nice. And besides, she told me about you, and I asked if I could meet you," the other spider said sheepishly. Arachne's features softened, and her eyes turned to the meal the spider had laid out for her, and back at him.

"Oh...well, I guess that changes things," she said. "You like squid?" she asked.

"You bet! I know, it's kind of a weird taste, but it's great once you get used to it! But it's kinda hard to find here, what with everything being frozen and all," he said.

"Well, you're in luck; I got some right here!" Arachne said, getting out the squid she had been saving.

"Where did that come from?" the male spider asked.

"The group and I've split the food evenly in our inventories," Arachne explained.

"Inventory?"

"Never mind. So, what's it like here? If I ever end up staying here, what sections of the city should I avoid at all costs?" the male spider laughed at Arachne's question.

"All of it is wonderful, nothing bad happens here. Just good things," he replied, affectionately touching one of Arachne's front legs with his own.

"Yeah, I can believe that," she replied. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Slim give a wink as they enjoyed their Silverfish, plain. Glancing at the night sky, she could see that the moon was rising almost directly above her. The night was still fairly young.

**. . . . .**

Necrom had a tendency to groan, the same as all Zombies did, but he only tended to do it in his sleep, on this particular night. Tossing and turning in the sheets, he couldn't shake the nightmare of his past.

He dreamt that his skin was a brownish tan color, and that he lived in a very large house, made of an unnatural red material with white lines. Outside were wolves with collars on them, obeying the whims he found himself dictating. Nearby were pens housing several dozen sheep, cows, chickens, and pigs, and when it suited him he bred and slaughtered them. Using strange tools he did not recognize, some glimmering purple and others not, he wandered the earth, building alien structures, diving down into caves and polluting them with light, and working until the sun set, returning to his home to sleep in a bed, much like the one he was in now.

Sometimes in the dream, he saw other mobs; their faces were hard to make out, but they seemed to be either angry at him or distressed. Necrom tried to make his arm stop himself from lowering his sword upon them, but it was all in vain. Creepers, when they did not die from the sword or bow, exploded in his face, their young scattering in all directions. And at the end of the dream, he found himself exploring the same abandoned prison camp that Slim had talked about, doing what he had done elsewhere in the dream. At the end of the dream, he came into a library and struck down one of two Endermen. Wandering into the meandering caves, he killed a spider and its eggs. Then, at what seemed like a speed too fast for reality, Necrom found himself racing through walls and ceilings, sometimes emerging on the surface to find himself rocketing into space, sometimes falling down into the Void, until he came to what seemed like the end of the bottom of the world, where a group of skeletons were all decapitated.

And finally, at the very worst part of the dream before he woke up, Necrom felt his body being dumped out from a confined space, landing on his face in a room of cobblestone and moss. This was the only part of the dream where he could control himself, but it was all in vain. He and many other Zombies, all looking exactly like him, were emerging from the cage, all huddling with their backs against the wall of the room, trying to avoid something that had just entered that was not one of them. Necrom could not make out the figure, but it carried a sword covered in blood in one hand, and a pickaxe in the other. It walked at a brisk pace, swinging its weapons into the mass of Zombies. Necrom listened as they all fell, one by one, before the figure reached him. At this point, Necrom tried hard to see who it was, but whenever he looked he just saw a reflection of himself. For a long time, Necrom had thought nothing of this final image, but now he had seen it too many times to deny it any longer. He screamed as he woke up from the dream.

He was Steve and Steve was him. The mobs in his dream were not Steve's victims, they were his. Was he ever a Zombie?

Necrom's heart nearly leapt out when he heard a knock at the door of his room. He opened it, and found that it was Klack.

"Klack, what do you need?" Necrom asked, rubbing his eyes from sleep. He tried hard not to tremble from the trauma of his nightmare.

"I thought Arachne was around here somewhere, sorry. She said she'd try to go with you to the inn before we all split up. Is she not here?"

"She was in the room across from mine. Did you check there?" Necrom asked.

"Yes. There's no one there. She must have left."

"Apparently so. Klack, could you request a bowl of mushroom stew from the front desk? I am growing hungry."

"Do you not have any food left in your inventory?" Klack said. Necrom, suddenly remembering this, checked. There was a single potato.

"Just a potato. It's not enough," Necrom replied. Klack did so, worried about his friend. Before he could go back up to Necrom's room, there was a knock at the door. It was Radius, looking very angry.

"I suppose you don't starve the others in your group and deprive them of practical knowledge, hm? You wouldn't be the first person I've met that was prejudiced against Creepers. Just because most of us end our lives very quickly doesn't mean we are useless!" Radius cried. Necrom, still feeling drowsy and hungry, didn't quite understand.

"What grounds does your argument have? Is there any justifiable reason for you to invade my privacy so that you can express your sudden dislike of me?" Necrom asked.

"Puyo has told me what you have taught him-or rather, what have you neglected to teach him. You are bad influence to him and everyone else in this city!" Necrom stared in disbelief. Puyo emerged from behind Radius and went over to Necrom. Puyo quickly explained what had been discussed with his brother.

"...and now he's mad because you didn't teach me things that weren't important to him," Puyo finished, equally as unsure as Necrom about why Radius was so mad.

"Don't touch him, Puyo! You shouldn't be anywhere near him. You don't need to be with him anymore. Now that you're finally here, you're safe with me," Radius said.

"No, Radius! You're my brother and all, but Necrom's like a dad!" Puyo protested. Radius gasped.

"And now you want to deprive him the memories of his birth parents! Shame on you!"

"It was of no fault of my own!" Necrom argued back. "He came up with the family idea on his own! I had to take care of him when no one else was around! We met far away from here, and I protected him from the other members of the group!"

"Why would he need protection?" Radius asked. "I knew a mixed-species group was not advisable to bring into the city. Friendships with other mobs within the city limits are understandable, but by banding together outside of it you devolve into nothing more than a band of brigands, no doubt pillaging innocent villagers!"

"We have justifiable reasons for doing so!" Necrom argued.

"Yeah, we can use them to defeat Steve during the siege, you'll help!" Puyo added. Radius gasped once more.

"A siege of Sunnyshore? Is that what your arrival in the city was about? You wanted to recruit more to your barbaric cause, didn't you?"

"We-" Necrom began.

"You can keep silent. I want Puyo to answer. It is very bad to tell lies, you know!" Puyo began to shrink back.

"Answer me!" Radius demanded. Puyo panicked and explained the siege, against Necrom's orders.

"I should have been more cautious. If you don't leave the city in 24 hours, I'll have you deported!" Radius cried to Necrom, taking the younger Creeper with him and slamming the door of his room. Necrom stood there, dumbfounded. He partially considered going after Radius, but decided against it because he realized that ultimately, Radius cared for Puyo as much as he did, and would not let any harm come to him. The siege would have to be conducted without him, although he was a very key component of its success. A replacement Creeper would have to be found, most likely outside of Frigidity. Klack arrived minutes later with the mushroom stew. Necrom drank it and told Klack what had happened with Radius.

"Oh yeah, I could hear some yelling here, and I saw Puyo with him. I don't think Radius recognized me, but Puyo probably did. You want me to try and get him back from his brother?" Klack asked, having been told that Puyo and Radius were related by Necrom.

"There is no need. Radius will not harm him at all. Perhaps it was foolish of me, to use a child for our siege."

"Almost all Creepers are children. And we need him for the siege! We can't back out now!" Klack protested.

"I know. We'll find a replacement soon enough. Just go about your business until the others return to the rendezvous point outside the city. It should be easy enough for me to find you; I'm to be deported soon, but I plan to leave now."

"...Oh. Well, I'm going to be going hunting with some other Skeletons and Wolves in a hunting club, and I want Arachne to come with me. Is that okay with you?"

"Just don't cause too much trouble," Necrom warned. "I'll see you later, Notch willing."

"Yeah. Good luck, I'll tell Slim and Arachne what happened with the Creepers," Klack said, leaving. Necrom left his room shortly after finishing the mushroom stew and his last potato and checked out of the inn.

**. . . . .**

Arachne was finishing her dinner with the other spider, enjoying her date with him very much.

"That was very nice. If I ever get a permanent residence here, I'll let you know where it is," she said, nibbling at the very last piece of Silverfish.

"Good. I'd like to see you again," the male spider replied as Arachne climbed down his tree. Slim warped to the ground in front of her at the base of the tree as snow began to fall.

"Gah, you scared me! Just because I'm supposed to be scary doesn't mean I can't be scared too, you know!" Arachne hissed.

"Sorry. Klack is looking for you," Slim replied. She warped back to wherever Klack was and reappeared with him.

"I'm going on a hunting expedition now that it's midnight. You wanna come?" he asked her. Arachne smiled.

"This place just keeps getting better and better! Thank you, both of you, for really showing me you good sides here!" Arachne said. Klack got on her back and the two went off to join with the other Skeletons and Wolves at the northern end of the tundra. The male spider climbed down to talk to Slim some more.

"Hope they don't go into the desert; it's east of here, and that place is almost completely lit up. The coyotes are little bit more savage than the wolves around here," the spider explained.

"Really? I'm not that good with the geography of this place," Slim admitted. "You know anything else about the desert? I'm a little curious, what with that thing about there being no rain there, at all."

"Oh, the Thermal Desert? Yeah, I lived there before moving here. That was where Steve was first spotted, you know, at a village called Initius. Not nearly as big as this place, but they have wheat and sugarcane, which I heard taste pretty good to some mobs. At first I wanted to put my memories of my time in the desert behind me, since the incredibly hot sun there always sent me running for cover, but now that Steve built a railroad from here to Sunnyshore, I'll admit I'm kinda scared now."

"A railroad?" Slim repeated.

"Yeah. It runs from Initius south the coastline of the taiga, at the southern end of the Frigidity. You must be really new here if you haven't seen it yet. There aren't that many lights or anything, except for these red torch things that hardly do anything, but the railroad connects all the way over to Sunnyshore. It's actually quite impressive for Steve, frankly, but it scares me that now he's got a good route through our territory. I mean, sure, he's just passing through, but..."

"-Does the railroad go anywhere else?" Slim asked the spider before he rambled on.

"I heard rumors that it actually goes to Agraria also. Not that I'd want to prove that, or anything," the spider said.

"Thank you; you've been a great help to me. And Arachne as well," Slim said, thanking the spider. "I haven't ever seen her happy before, like she was tonight with you."

"You're welcome; I'd like to-hey, where did you go?" the spider asked as the snow finally stopped falling.


	9. Chapter 9

The Hunting Club had tons of fun hunting the smaller game from midnight until dawn. For the first time in his life, Klack had actually been proud of his archery skills, and he was actually getting along with Arachne! He discovered that from about 20 feet away, he could fire an arrow at a bird flying in the air, so long as he aimed straight up and his timing was absolutely perfect. While he was only able to do this once, the other Skeletons thought highly of him for it. Communicating non-verbally with Arachne during a chase was also surprisingly easy. He merely had to shift his weight around for her to know exactly which direction he wanted to go, and lean back in order for her to turn around completely. She was also able to catch a few things herself when Klack had briefly run out of arrows before getting some more from another hunter. By the end of the hunt at dawn, Klack had killed 3 pigs, 2 cows, 5 sheep, and 7 chickens, while Arachne had killed 1 pig, 2 sheep, and 3 chickens. Finally, the other skeletons left so as not to get burned in the sunlight, and Klack and Arachne went out to the edge of the frozen lake to rest. Slim appeared in front of them.

"There you guys are! You all kept moving around so much, and I couldn't tell you all apart!" she said, out of breath. "It took a lot of energy to warp around so much!"

"Really? The one Skeleton on a spider wasn't painfully obvious?" Arachne asked sarcastically. Slim chuckled.

"I ruled that one out; I thought, 'Surely it can't be them!' But it was!" she said.

"Don't tell Puyo about this; I don't want him getting all soft on us again!" Arachne begged. "But you can tell that nice spider, Kilkos, about it. I'm sure he'd like to hear about it. Maybe he'd even get a little jealous!" Arachne giggled. Klack stared at her in disbelief before explaining what had happened to Puyo, and how Necrom was probably out of the city by now. Arachne sighed.

"So, he's gone, huh? Gonna miss him, to be honest. Well, come on, guys, let's go meet back up with Necrom. He'll probably tell us to go back and get a replacement Creeper in the city, but it'll be okay to get out of the cold for just a few minutes." With that, Arachne scuttled west, nearly slipping on the ice. Klack glanced at Slim with concern for Arachne.

"What did they have on her little date?" he asked the Enderwoman.

"Just Silverfish and Squid. Plain."

"Oh, that's the problem. I had to eat several years' worth of that stuff, and look how I turned out!"

**. . . . .**

Arachne and Klack, still traveling together, went back to the Hunting Club after most of its members had gone home for the day.

"Hey, could we get a few Wolves to come with us? Arachne and I are going to the Thermal Desert, see if we can't pick up a few things from the hunt," Klack asked. The Wolves all shook their heads.

"We're too tired. We're not machines, you know. You've got a helmet, so can you just go yourself?" one of the Wolves asked.

"Sure, I guess so," Klack said. Arachne followed him out.

"We don't need them!" the Spider reassured him. "We can do pretty well on our own, anyway! I've got a fairly keen sense of smell. Not as good as a wolves', but pretty good! At least I think I do..."

The two mobs went out into the desert, with Klack riding on Arachne once again. The Thermal Desert wasn't called "Thermal" for no reason: the intense heat of the sun, as well as the lack of shade in most areas, made a very dangerous place to start life. However, once you adapted to the desert life, you could easily spend the rest of your life here, provided you weren't undead. The coyotes, essentially just wolves who had adapted to a hot climate rather than a cold one, were proof of that. Unlike the wolves, however, they preferred to live in solitude rather than with a group, and as such paid little attention to Klack and Arachne.

"Initius is at the far eastern end of the desert, and a little to the north, right where it meets a swampy sea. There's nothing really there worth taking; I think sugarcane and wheat are nasty," the Wolf they talked to for directions said.

"We're not going for that; we're going to scare, maybe through Steve off course," Arachne explained before moving on, with the coyote still confused by their plan. As they headed east, Klack couldn't help but remark:

"Hey, weren't there more watering holes before?" Arachne hissed at the realization.

"Steve must have filled up the ones that didn't have any sugarcane growing by them," she concluded. "Have you noticed that the few we've seen around here all have sugarcane growing beside them? Otherwise, poof! They're gone."

"Yeah." The two remained silent as they approached the outskirts of Initius from the south. The rail they had followed had led them right to it!

"Let's get rid of some of the tracks before we go in!" Arachne suggested. The two of them did so, breaking off just enough tracks for there to be a large gap in the railroad. Before going in the city, Klack spoke up.

"Hey, Arachne?"

"Yeah? What? Got bugs in your teeth?"

"No. I just wanted to say before we go in there...I can't believe we didn't get along before. You're actually pretty cool. Better than some of those hunters, actually."

"Thanks. You're not so shabby yourself. I mean, what kind of Skeleton will go out and catch Squid for me?"

"Only one!"

"Exactly! Now, let's go in there and tear the place apart!"

**. . . . .**

Steve sailed down the river; finally approaching the second canal he had made that linked it up to the river leading to Sunnyshore. It had not been tampered with, to his surprise. Keeping his sword and pickaxe close to him, Steve continued to sail down the river, approaching the place where Necrom was treading water, waiting for the others. From below, Necrom nearly froze, trying not to scream. He dove down underwater before Steve could see him. Necrom held his breath, hoping that Steve would simply pass by, or better yet, turn around. The Zombie exhaled slightly, sending a few bubbles to the surface. Steve saw it! he realized. He was doomed!

"Probably just a squid," Steve said to himself, and sailed back the way he came. Nothing had happened to the rest of his river route. Most likely, one of the mountains was actually a volcano, and it had erupted. Perhaps all of them were dormant volcanoes? Not an expert in geology or volcanology, Steve knew this had to be investigated. He returned back the way he had come, sailing back upstream. Necrom emerged from the water when he had left, breathing a huge sigh of relief. Looking up at the sky, he could tell that it was noon. Where were the others?

**. . . . .**

Puyo and Radius were outside the home, and Radius was clearing the snow around the hill to plant a sapling.

"Now, many Skeletons are kind enough to, upon death, allow their bones to be ground into bone meal as a part of their will. I managed to purchase some from a local shop this morning," Radius explained to Puyo, who was looking out at what he thought was west.

"Are you listening, Puyo? This tree, if properly cared for, will provide life to many other animals and mobs in the area," Radius went on as Puyo turned around to face him. But Puyo was in fact quite bored. There were already plenty of trees in Frigidity! Right now he wanted to find Necrom. He looked back at Radius, still not completely sure why he had him deported from the city. Radius was his brother, and Puyo loved him, but he had known Necrom for much, much longer. Radius hadn't been the one who had found him after a year or so of running away from Steve. Radius hadn't been the one who held him close on all of those stormy nights, back when he was afraid of them. Radius hadn't fed him each day, even when he wasn't hungry. Radius hadn't been the one who told him to always try and see the nicer side of people, even when they seemed mean like Arachne. Necrom had been the one that had told him that he would live to be very old if he stuck with the group, and Necrom had been the one who had rescued him from the ravine, and played with him and Klack in the river, and let him ride on a boat even though no one else wanted to, and Necrom and brought him all this way, and now he was gone...

Puyo stood up from where he had been sitting and marched off. Radius was about to give chase and ask where he was going, but first he had to go back and get his cape. By the time Radius had caught up to Puyo, he was already at the frozen lake again. Puyo stopped to look at his reflection with Radius, who was too busy scolding him for leaving to see that they no longer looked all that much alike, at least to Puyo. Puyo knew at that moment without a doubt that he had to be with Necrom. He was not a child anymore, but Necrom was still his father, because his old one had died long ago. If his parents were here now, Puyo thought, would they want him to go with Necrom? They would, he thought to himself.

Still ignoring Radius' incessant warnings, Puyo faced Radius reluctantly and asked, "Can I go explore the city some more?" he said this in the most innocent voice. "While you go and set up the tree, I want to see what the rest of this place is like. I haven't been to the northern end of the city yet, and I haven't seen all the hollow trees and public caves!"

"Oh? Is that why you wanted to leave? Well, you really should have told me! Let that be your first lesson here: always tell people where you're going to go, so that they won't worry about you!" Radius said softly, as if he had not been yelling at his little brother a few minutes before.

"Bye bye!" Puyo said in the most sickeningly sweet voice he could muster. And with that, he slid across the ice and kept going north. When he had vanished, Radius headed over to the police station, a cave almost completely populated by Wolves, and instructed them not to allow his brother to leave the southwestern border of the city.

**. . . . .**

Puyo, meanwhile, wandered throughout every building and home in the city he could see, asking up front if anyone wanted to join him and the group in the siege of Sunnyshore. Most of the time he was met with fright, confusion, or amusement. No one took up his offer, and when word went around about the Creeper who was soliciting recruits for a military operation, which most of the citizens of Frigidity strongly opposed in any form, the police Wolves were alerted. Puyo eventually realized this and lay low, sneaking out to the borders of the city. But the Wolves were guarding every inch of the border in the area.

"You are not allowed to leave," one of them explained curtly.

"Why not? I have to go see Necrom, since you guys won't let him in!"

"We were ordered by a respected citizen to prevent your exit from this city until further notice," the Wolf said, growling. Puyo sat down and waited, realizing that they only thing he could do was wait for the law to catch up with him. And it was doing so, and a very fast pace.

**. . . . .**

The city of Initius became filled with blood as Klack fired his arrows relentlessly on the helpless villagers. Most of them fled into their homes and locked the doors, but a few individuals weren't so lucky, dying in the streets. A local Dog-a term used derogatorily by Wolves to refer to ones caught in the clutches of Steve-tried to attack the group, but Arachne rushed to it faster and sank her fangs into its flesh, killing it with the strength of her bite. The Dog died, the only protector of the village. The villagers all stayed indoors as Klack and Arachne took their sweet time taking as much sugarcane and wheat as they could carry.

"I'll bet this stuff doesn't taste as bad as that coyote said!" Klack suggested, trying to nibble on some of the sugarcane he had taken.

"Yeah, it's probably an acquired taste, like Squid!" Arachne agreed as they rode back down the main street of the city. Glancing into one of the houses, Arachne asked, "How do we break in?" she asked.

"No need. They're scared out of their wits, so we've done what we intended to do," Klack said. And with that, the two rode back to Frigidity as the sun began to lower itself westward.

When the duo returned to the Hunting Club, they were quick to boast of their raid, ignoring the ongoing gossip about a Creeper begging for "recruits".

"We just made successful raid on Initius! Hope some of you like wheat and sugarcane!" Klack announced. His words were met with growls and scorn.

"You attacked an innocent village?!"

"You've just provoked Steve!"

"When he finds out about this, we're doomed!"

"How does it feel to have endangered all of our lives, traitors?!"

"I should have known not to let these people in the city!"

"We're turning you in, whether you like it or not! You can't take us all on!"

Klack and Arachne got the message and made a run for the border.

**. . . . .**

Puyo watched as the mob grew closer, led by what were clearly Klack and Arachne. But why was Klack on Arachne's back? Puyo thought. Had he been injured, and was she carrying him to be nice?

The Spider and Skeleton caught up to him, embracing him and not caring how or why he was here as well.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here! I'd never thought I'd even say that!" Arachne admitted, nuzzling Puyo as he would her. Klack offered Puyo a seat on Arachne.

"She's strong enough to carry both of us. Come on, kid, we're getting out of here! How does that sound?" Puyo didn't need to ask why.

"What about Slim?" he asked. "We need her! She's like my mom, you know!"

"Yeah, we know, but we don't have time!" Arachne exclaimed. "The mob's catching up, hurry!"

"The Creeper is not allowed to leave the city. If you and the Skeleton have warrants for deportation, then you are free to leave," the Wolf at the border said.

"Wait! I have to go with them!" Puyo protested. The Wolf shook his head.

The mob of angry mobs finally approached the group, with Radius following at a distance.

"There they are! And that Creeper, too! Send the warmongers out!" An Enderman, clearly not Slim, exclaimed.

"Wasn't there one more?" a Zombie in the crowd asked.

"We'll find that person at some point. Maybe they've already left!" a Skeleton suggested. Just then, Kilkos and Radius made their way to the front of the crowd.

"Puyo! I should have known! You're too associated with these ruffians! Come on, let's go home!" Radius tried to drag Puyo with him, but the crowd repulsed him back.

"You know this guy?" An unknown mob asked angrily. "We have to kick all three of these warmongers out of the city! If you're with them, we'll kick you out, too, Radius!" Radius stood in shock, edging away from the accused mobs. Kilkos eyed Arachne sadly.

"Arachne...I can't believe you would be part of something like this. It's so sad...I really liked you. Maybe we could have become mates, but now I don't think I want to. I'm sorry. Goodbye, I guess," he said unwaveringly. Arachne hissed back at him.

"Fine!" she cried. "I don't need you anyway! I have real friends! I don't need a big softie in my life!"

"If everyone besides the despised three would step away from the border, please," one of the Wolves said. "We can work this out if you all cooperate." The citizens of Frigidity did as requested.

"Good," the Wolf said. "Now, please leave," he said politely to Arachne, Klack, and Puyo.

"Goodbye, everyone. If you had all just listened to me..." Puyo said, but his voice was too quiet to be heard. The three mobs were escorted out of the taiga, and they proceed to meet up with Necrom, just as they had planned. Necrom, who had been waiting for them in the river, came ashore to meet them as the sun began to set, and Genesia began to darken.

"It is good to see you all," Necrom said. "Were you taken out of the city, just as I was?"

"Yes. All but Slim," Klack said.

"We need Slim!" Puyo cried, not just speaking for himself.

"Indeed. All five of us are needed to implement this siege. Without reinforcements, it will be difficult, but not impossible. We will have to wait until she arrives."

"With the noise they were making, it won't take too long," Arachne said.

**. . . . .**

"What happened that made everyone so angry?" Slim asked Kilkos as he climbed back up to his web.

"Arachne...she and the others are some kind of warmongers. You're not one of them, are you?" he asked her suspiciously.

"No...no, I'm not really associated with them," she lied. To say something like that gave great emotional pain to Slim, but she knew she had to say it, at least for now. "Where...did they go?"

"They were expelled from the city, at the same spot where they came. If they really want to raid Sunnyshore, just as they did Initius, then we can't have the blood on our hands. Perhaps we can negotiate with Steve, if he comes here," Kilkos suggested hopefully.

"If they are successful, then maybe Steve won't come," Slim argued.

"Are you kidding me? They're going to get themselves killed. Good riddance, I say," Kilkos remarked. Slim looked out at the night sky, worried for her friends.

"I'm going out, maybe to the desert. Perhaps the villagers could get some help?"

"They'll be terrified of you, but I guess it's worth a shot," Kilkos agreed. "I could come with you, since I know the place."

"No, that won't be necessary," Slim said, warping away to the rendezvous point. She arrived just as they were discussing plans. Puyo, delighted to see her, nuzzled up against her.

"Slim! You're back!" he cried. "We really missed you, and now that you're here, you can get the others to stop fighting!"

"Why would they be fighting?" she asked. She looked over to where the others were, and it seemed to be Necrom arguing against the newer strategy of Klack and Arachne's.

"I can't believe you raided a village unprovoked!" Necrom cried. "Stealing their resources and simply leaving, the nerve of you!"

"Hey, we thought it was a good idea! The shock value of the raid could provoke the villagers into messaging Steve for aid, causing him to be distracted cleaning up Initius while we raided Sunnyshore!" Klack argued.

"If you intended to do that, you should have told me! We could have done even better, and I could have helped you break down the doors! If you really wanted to frighten them, you should have inflicted more casualties!" Necrom argued back. Slim was a little shocked at how Necrom actually was mad at the two for not killing _enough _villagers, rather than hating their unprovoked attack.

"Hey, it was only two of us! What else could we do?" Arachne said defensively. Necrom glared at the Skeleton and Spider.

"Now that you've raided one village already, Steve will be less willing to negotiate, and simply slaughter us all! Initius was a very foolish mistake you two made, and it could cost us to lose some of our strategic advances!" Necrom said.

"Like what?" Klack challenged. "Just remember, this whole thing was my idea, not yours!"

"Yes, but now you've gone back and-" Necrom began. Slim did her best to make a sound as if she was dying, and that caused the mobs to shut up for just a moment and realize she was there.

"Could you all listen to me for just a second?" she asked nicely. The others did so, hoping that she would reinforce their argument.

"I...I know that I'm no expert in raiding and fighting on my own, but I just want to give my opinion," Slim began. "I think that it would be best to try and stick to whatever plan that you all had originally as best as you can. Maybe what Klack and Arachne did was unnecessary, but who knows? Maybe it could work out for the better. Either way, you all need to stay committed to the task at hand. If you complete it and force Steve away forever, you will all be immortalized as heroes. And just having Steve concede in Sunnyshore alone may prompt the people of Frigidity to change their minds. Right now they see your  
goal as impossible, but if you pull this off then perhaps we can get them to join you in Agraria one day. Just...don't give up over things like this." Slim finished her speech with a deep breath, then turned to face the taiga again.

"Um, shouldn't there have been more 'we' and 'ours' in that? You're in this too, you know!" Arachne asked. Slim turned to the group and sighed.

"Actually, I don't feel like I am," she said, to their shock. "I'm thinking about living in Frigidity...permanently. I can start my life over again there, and now that the Ender Dragon is dead, I don't want to go home. I want Frigidity to be my new home, where I never have to worry about Steve ever again. I'll be able to live in peace at last, which is all I ever really wanted. I actually have a similar mindset to the people there, although I understand better than they do because I've lived with you for so long. Klack and Puyo, I know I was the one who tried motivating you both earlier-just like I'm doing now-but to be honest, I only said it all to prevent you from despairing too much. If you all stay united in your efforts against Steve, I know you can do it! But...I don't really want to be a part of it. But when this is all over, I...I'd like to see you all again, if that's okay."

"But Slim, we need you for this!" Klack protested.

"Oh, she just wants to be in some place where there's no rain 24/7! Well you know, sweetheart, there's also the desert! Ever thought of that place?!" Arachne said, trying to hide her tears. Necrom nodded in understanding, hugging Slim.

"I understand your reasons for departing with us. However, we would all be much happier if you changed your mind about leaving," the Zombie said to her. Slim finally turned to Puyo, whose eyes were full of tears.

"Slim, don't go! We need you really bad!" the Creeper cried, nuzzling up against his non-biological mother for what he thought was the last time. Slim hugged him back.

"I'll miss you so much, Puyo!" Slim said, trying not to cry with him. "I hope you always consider me to be like a mother to you. I always tried so hard to love you like your mother would have."

"I love you, too, Slim. But if you go, then I won't have a mommy! And Arachne can't be my mommy, she's my sister! I need the whole family to be together!" Puyo sobbed. The other mobs also joined for a group hug. Even Arachne couldn't help feeling sad.

"Goodbye," Slim said to the others. "I wish you all good luck in the siege. Don't forget me," she said, vanishing.

"We will hold you dear to our hearts, and your memory will never be tarnished," Necrom said after she had disappeared.


	10. Chapter 10

The mobs, minus Slim, began to plan for their raid. Klack would take out the Dogs guarding the city, Arachne would come in next and raid the crops, and Necrom would break down the doors of the houses and force every villager into the library as hostages, where the empty threat of Puyo exploding and killing them all would keep them there. When Steve showed up, whenever that was, he would be forced to negotiate or risk having every villager slaughtered, the library destroyed, and the entire village ransacked. When Steve conceded the territory to the mobs, the citizens of Frigidity would become sympathetic to their cause. Afterward, they could use a much larger group to raid Initius once more, this time destroying it completely as well. Almost immediately afterward, before Steve could counterattack, they would attack Agraria, this time conquering it and forcing Steve to flee. Although he could attempt to flee westward into the plains, as the mobs had done so long ago, the mobs could easily occupy this biome and prevent him from seeking shelter there. They would also take the Extreme Hills biome under their control as well. The only place Steve would be able to go would be either one of the two islands between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, two rivers to the east of Agraria, or the Lonely White Forest, a taiga much smaller than Frigidity. The mobs could quickly expel him from these territories as well, if they wished, and the rest of Genesia that Steve had attempted to light up with torches could also be occupied while he was in exile. All of these thoughts ran through Necrom's head, and he discussed them with the others, who agreed wholeheartedly to his plans.

"If we pull this off, Steve will soon be doomed," Klack said, amazed at the words he was saying.

"We'll never have to worry about Steve again!" Arachne said gleefully.

"We can finally be a family!" Puyo cried excitedly.

"And the post-Steve Era-that is what I want to call it, will begin, initiated by the four of us," Necrom said. "And we shall do it in the name of the Fifth."

"For Slim!" they all cried. And that night, the siege would begin.

**. . . . .**

A villager from Initius was met with stares from the people of Agraria, especially as he hurried to the door of Steve's house. He was going to knock, but the pressure plate in front opened it automatically. The villager went inside and waited for Steve to appear. He came up from his basement, looking curious and having no idea about the previous attack, or the upcoming one.

"Yes? Do you need something?" Steve asked the villager kindly.

"Initius was raided earlier today! It was a Skeleton in a gold helmet, riding on a Spider!" Steve went with the villager to use the railroad to go to Initius and repair the damage, first telling his Dogs to be on full alert. Scanning the area around the village that night, he couldn't see anything that looked dangerous. The plains and the desert surrounding his house had been completely lit up with torches, and no mobs dared to travel there. Initius would be safe during the night, but he knew that Sunnyshore would be much more vulnerable, since he had not yet had time to place torches around the plains in that region.

"Would you elaborate on the damage, please?" Steve asked a local priest when he arrived in Initius.

"They took most of our crops, and a few of us were slain," the priest explained. "Most of us managed to get inside in time, and there were no Zombies to break down our doors."

"Good, the damage should be negligible. I can arrange for a shipment to your people from Agraria soon enough; we have plenty of wheat, but the sugarcane may be a bit harder to replace. There should, however, be some wild stalks growing around the desert in various places, and I can replant them back over here soon. But tonight I need to check on Sunnyshore."

"Very well, then. Here's wishing you a safe journey!" the priest said. Steve nodded. Heading to the southern end of Initius, he tried to take the railroad that skirted the edges of Frigidity. But about halfway through the desert, his mine cart crashed. Steve got out and realized that the tracks had been broken, most likely by the two raiders. Angered, Steve immediately took the air, brandishing a bow and diamond sword from out of nowhere. With unbelievable speed, he flew across the desert and over the taiga.

**. . . . .**

The mobs began their charge at the stroke of midnight, as the full moon raised high above all of Genesia. Klack immediately shot at the Dogs from a distance just as they noticed him. First one fell in a single shot, then the second, and then the third. Climbing up onto Arachne, Klack lowered his bow for a moment. Necrom and Puyo brought up the rear of the charge, running as fast as they could to catch up with Arachne.

The Spider and her jockey approached the villagers, shooting the closest ones that couldn't flee into their homes, most of them too confused and scared to realize that their only protectors had been killed. When all of the villagers that hadn't been shot dead escaped into the safety of their homes, Klack dismounted and Arachne and waited for the others to show up. The Spider, meanwhile, swam out to sea, where the crops of the village were elevated on platforms to prevent damage from floods. She tore at the stalks of wheat, tearing off most of them and stomping the ground so that no more of it would grow. She also tore into the pumpkins, sinking her fangs into them and tearing apart their faces, or just knocking them over and tossing them out to sea, taking time to destroy the stems as well.

Puyo and Necrom finally arrived, and the first thing Necrom did was tear down the door to the church so that Klack could enter. Klack did so, effortlessly shooting at the priest inside and climbing to the top of the building, where he stayed as lookout for the time being. Everything was going according to plan.

Necrom then proceeded to break down all of the doors of the village, and with each building besides the church he and Puyo approached the citizens, trembling with fear. Puyo stepped closer to them, making them believe he would explode and kill them. It was an empty threat, but there was no way for them to know that. Necrom instructed each villager into the library, knowing that Klack would shoot and kill anyone that attempted to flee in the process. The last house, which stood completely in the water, had the most villagers, thinking that Necrom was a poor swimmer. He was not, and soon the last of the villagers had been rounded up into the library. When all of the hostages were inside, Necrom and Puyo went inside as well. Puyo stared down the huddled, fearful masses, and Necrom looked outside the windows momentarily. Klack was still vigilant as ever on top of the church battlements, and Arachne had just finished destroying the crops.

"People of Sunnyshore," Necrom announced, clearing his throat for to begin a tirade against them. "There is no point to resisting our control of your village, and there is very little hope that you will be properly liberated. Truth be told, I have no quarrel with you; if you all cooperate, the casualties committed by my Skeleton friend-who will stop anyone that tries to escape from this facility-will be the only ones necessary."

"We shall hold you here until Steve arrives, and begin the negotiations," Necrom went on. "Make no mistake, if our efforts are successful this village will become ours, and you will be spared and free to go anywhere else. I would recommend Deltist, as it is the only village we have no plans of attacking anytime soon.

Hear me, cowardly peasants! The era in which you go about your lives under the protection of Steve, the human who has exterminated millions of our kind and ruined much of this great land of Genesia, is coming to an end! The post-Steve era, as it shall be called when it is firmly secured in history, will be a time of prosperity for all of us mobs, the original owners of this land! I cannot think of a time before Steve, and before his destruction and genocide of nearly all the races, but perhaps one day, I will see it, and so will you and you children and their children, as well as my own descendants! And if you cooperate with us tonight, you will all live to see this new age, and we in return will leave in you peace. You will need no protectors because there will be no one to harm you! I guarantee it!

For historical purposes, this library will be the only building of the old Sunnyshore that will be preserved," Necrom said, taking a book from one of the shelves. "But the rest of this place is a mark of Steve's influence, and a sign of his presence and it will be destroyed, and in its place a new larger and greater city will be built! And by joining us in our efforts and agreeing to side with us, you can all share in the prosperity of the post-Steve era, soon to begin!" Necrom finally finished, heaving and panting from the sheer amount of talking he had done. He looked into the eyes of each villager, silently daring them to speak out. Finally, one did:

"We refuse."

"Tell me why," Necrom said, stepping forward as Puyo went closer to the door. "Remember, if I need to I can force you to join me, but out of the kindness and mercy of my heart-and my disgust for converting one of you into my kind-I am giving you the freedom to dissent! However, I don't advise it."

"We don't care what you advise!" the villager who spoke up cried. "We have lived here in peace for many decades, and we have been on Genesia for about as long as you have! What gives you the right to dictate your terms to us?"

"Force is our right," Necrom replied. The villager continued unintimidated.

"We will not succumb to your tyranny, and neither will Steve!" the villager cried. "We side with Steve because he is our protector, and because he has made our lives more prosperous, while weeding out scum like you! One day, your kind may be extinct, but if you stop the violence now, perhaps Steve will spare your lives!" Necrom growled in response.

"Do you not even realize how much you look like him?" the villager asked.

At that point, Necrom lost his temper. He rushed out at the villager with surprising speed, grabbed him, and slammed him to the ground. The force of the blow killed him.

"Would anyone else like to make another inaccurate comparison, or otherwise dissent in some way?!" Necrom shouted to the villagers. They all shook their heads.

"Very well, then," Necrom said, calming down. "Because that individual did not seem to represent the will of all of you as a group, it would be best for me to ignore his outburst." With these words, Necrom calmly traded places with Puyo and walked out into the night, hoping to get some fresh air before Steve arrived. In minutes, Necrom returned, and Steve had still not shown up.

"Puyo, keep close to the door, but don't try and blow up," Necrom instructed him quietly. Puyo shook his head.

"No, it's okay! I can blow up if it will kill Steve!" he said. Necrom tried to dismiss this idea.

"No, Puyo, no! Don't explode! You won't have to if this goes right!" he cried, trying to keep his voice below a whisper. He glanced back at the villagers to prevent them from talking amongst themselves. The two mobs, meanwhile, agreed to both stay in the library and get Steve to join them in as well, so that the long-awaited negotiations could finally begin.


	11. Chapter 11

Slim watched as Steve began to slow his flight across the taiga. Most of the other mobs saw him as well, but quickly ran and hid from him, Radius and Kilkos included. Only Slim stood to watch him, standing on top of one of the trees as she had been doing for a while now. Steve looked down at her, somewhat curious as to why she was there. The odds of one spawning there, right on a tree, were somewhat slim, he knew. The Enderwoman with the same name as the odds of her spawning there met his eyes. She saw that Steve had no armor, only a diamond sword and a bow, presumably with some arrows. As they locked eyes for what seemed like agonizing seconds, Slim realized just how cruel this being was. When she normally looked into the eyes of others, she could see hope, or frustration, or sorrow, or anger, or some sort of justifiable emotion. But Steve's eyes only had malice, and Slim found it fitting that they were the color of water, the substance that seemed to have been specially placed here in an attempt to ensure her death. But she had defied this, she thought, as snow once again began to fall in the taiga. Over in Sunnyshore it was raining, she thought as Steve passed over her without a second thought. But that did not matter. Having transferred some of his malice to herself, Slim immediately mustered up all the strength she could and teleported a great distance, all the way into the forge building of Sunnyshore, where no villagers lived. She would wait her until the time was right for her to strike at Steve.

**. . . . .**

Finally, Klack saw him arrive at a menacingly slow speed as it began to rain, probably meant to intimidate. Somehow, he was flying, and he carried a sword and bow, as expected. Klack knew it was likely that he was even better at handling that thing than Steve was, and as Steve finally drew near, he fired a few shots at him. Klack knew he would have landed a hit if Steve had simply not decided at that moment to drop down to the ground. The Skeleton, knowing better than to panic, simply leaned over the edge of the church and fired again. But each time, he could see that Steve dodged each shot with ease, seeming to know exactly where they came from. Necrom and Puyo, from inside the library, could see what was going on, but knew better than to act at the moment. Arachne, from her position in the crop fields, launched a string meant to wrap around Steve. But Steve also seemed to see that coming as well and simply broke it, watching Arachne from the darkness. But as he was trying to pinpoint the Spider's location, Klack emerged from the bottom floor of the church and tried to shoot Steve and point-blank range. Steve immediately ducked, and as Klack tried to fire again quickly enough to hurt him, Steve raised his sword as the next arrow launched at him, at it bounced right off and hit Klack instead, wounding him. Klack tried to stand, but Steve grabbed him from behind and took hold of his arms, moving them against his will to shoot at Puyo, who had just appeared from outside the library. Puyo gasped as he realized that there was no way for Klack to be able to wrestle free, due to his injury. The Creeper had just realized this upon stepping outside, and in the split-second it took to go back in or find cover, Steve used Klack's bow to shoot almost straight into Puyo's side.

Arachne and Necrom, the former leaping from behind over 20 feet away, and the latter shattering glass, tackled Steve just after he fired at Puyo, and the Creeper himself still tried to stagger over to where the rest of the fighting was. Steve quickly shook off both Zombie and Spider, slashing Arachne with his sword in the back and fatally wounding her. Arachne was sent reeling backwards and crashed against a house from her wounds. Puyo immediately stopped focusing on reaching Steve and immediately went over to Arachne, tears welling up in his eyes once again.

"Arachne! You can't die now! We've almost won! Please get up!" Puyo cried.

"No, I can't, I'm done for. But it's all right now; I'll be with my babies and the man I love, at long last. I hope I was a great sister for you, Puyo. I know we fought a lot of times, but I just want you to know that you were just like the son I never got to have."

"No, Arachne! You have to be my sister, forever!" Puyo cried. Glancing at the Creeper's wound, Arachne pulled it out from him with a leg that still seemed to work at the end of her life. Puyo's blood spilled on the ground next to her, mixing in with her own. Somehow, she felt that this meant something.

"Don't be afraid, little one," she said, in the quiet hiss of a Spider. Puyo cried, lowering his head and nuzzling her, trying to wake her up.

"I don't want you to die, Arachne!" he cried. Arachne held him close.

"I know, but sometimes things happen when you don't want them to. Story of our lives, right there," she remarked in her dying breath. "Puyo?" she asked.

"Do you think Slim would be jealous right now if she knew what was happening?"

"No. She would be very sad," Puyo said.

As Steve picked Klack up again before Necrom could stand to his feet, he fired another arrow. Puyo joined Arachne.

"I'm scared," he whispered to her as their bodies were involuntarily pressed up close.

"I know you are, but it's going to be okay," Arachne said. And with that, her book lungs exhaled their last breath, and she died. Puyo waited to join her, the tears in his eyes.

**. . . . .**

Klack stared in horror at what he had been forced to do. There, in front of him, by his own bow, lay two of his very best friends, doomed to die. Was this what his parents had trained him for, or was this what they were trying to prevent?

He didn't have time to think about it as his skull rolled off into the sea, finally sinking in the shallow sand of the coast.

**. . . . .**

Slim, holding a block of cobblestone in her hands, watched as all three of her friends lay dying. She would have cried loud enough to reveal her position, except that she knew that at this very last moment of all of their lives, now was the opportunity to not give herself up. She had to lie silent, as much as it pained her to do so, until Steve's death was all but assured. For Puyo's sake, she could give herself up, not even as she warped above the buildings and let the rain sting her skin like acid. And as Puyo looked up at the rainy sky, he caught a glimpse of her one last time.

"Mom!" he whispered in the quiet voice of a Creeper, before finally dying. Slim looked down at him and smiled, trying her very best to keep her expression up until Puyo was dead. This was how she wanted him to remember her, facing her fears with a smile.

**. . . . .**

Necrom used the last of his strength to push Steve to the ground, knocking the bow and sword from his hands. Slim, appearing at just the right moment and still exposed to the rain, took them and tossed them out to sea, and Steve lost them forever. Necrom tried to punch Steve, who was giving surprisingly little resistance. Despite giving all of the strength left in his arms, Necrom's blows seemed to do nothing. Steve laughed heartily at his feeble attempts. Necrom realized what was going on, and the realization filled him with dread. Steve was currently in the fabled "Creative Mode", which allowed him, according to legend, fly and create whatever he wished. Necrom concluded that this was how Steve had made the canals and those wooden structures. Another aspect of Creative Mode that Necrom had heard of was that it rendered Steve completely invincible. He could be moved and pushed by attacks, but not actually hurt by them. Necrom growled in anger when he realized this.

"I know what you're doing, you dishonorable tyrant!" the Zombie cried. Steve grinned maliciously. Slim watched from the safety of the inside of a building, ready to reappear and rejoin the battle when Necrom was no longer on the advantage.

"What can you do about it?" Steve asked him. "Any time I wish I can break free of your feeble hold on me. I haven't done so yet because I want to tell you something about yourself. About both of us."

"And what would that be?" Necrom asked, dreading the answer.

"What is a Zombie, really? I want your definition," Steve asked him. Necrom, deciding to play his little game, gave him an answer.

"A Zombie is an undead human, with green skin and great strength," Necrom stated proudly.

"Yes, but what else is he? I'll tell you," Steve said, laughing once again. "A Zombie can also be a mutant and rotting previous incarnation of myself. I'll give that a moment to sink in. In case you didn't realize, it means you might actually be me." Necrom gave no reaction, realizing that it had been just as he had feared.

"As you know, I die many times in my adventures here in Genesia," Steve said. "But every time I do, I am given the option of respawning in my bed, safe and sound. This was difficult at first because I had no bed, but sooner or later I established a home for myself in Agraria, and I have lived there ever since. But there is a price for my every death. Each time I die, a Zombie is spawned somewhere in the world, meant to represent a previous life that I had lived. The Zombie has all of my memories collected in that life, but they can sometimes become so jumbled up among the many Zombies that appear as I die time and time again that you may not be able to know what you did in your past life as me. Now, not all Zombies are necessarily past incarnations of myself, but for those that are there is a way to tell. Have you been having dreams of pillaging, slaughtering, setting wooden structures, spreading light everywhere, and mining the depths?" Steve asked.

"...Yes," Necrom said. Steve smiled again.

"Naturally. Only a Zombie that was once me would think up such a clever, although completely flawed, scheme to get rid of me. He would probably do it under some pretext like defeating me or the freedom of everyone else, but the truth is that he would know the real reason: he would be trying to suppress his memories that he shared with me, so as not to realize that he is me all along, just in a new and inferior body."

"I'm not going to believe a single word of that!" Necrom said, putting more weight on Steve's shoulders to try and keep him pinned down.

"Then maybe you'll believe this," Steve said. "You call me dishonorable and cowardly, but who is the real coward? I, Steve, try to survive on this cruel and inhospitable planet, trying to succeed where others failed. You and the other Zombies are these 'others'. Every day I am forced to collect enough food to prevent myself from starving to death, and every night I am at your mercy, and I was even before I did anything to wrong you. You may think you're in the right, but how can you say that when damage my property, kill innocent villagers, steal my food, and murder me thousands of times while I only kill you once out of self-defense? Is there really no way that we cannot co-exist?" Steve asked him. "Or are you too savage and violent to see reason?"

"You're the one who's too savage and violent!" Necrom countered. Steve screamed, suddenly pushing Necrom off of him. As the Zombie fell to the ground, Slim reappeared and hit him with a cobblestone block. Steve fell again, and Necrom got up and gave Slim a hug.

"Thank you. You saved my life," Necrom said. But Slim did not reply; her body was on fire from the rain.

"Slim! You could die if you stay out here too long!" Necrom cried. Slim nodded, just barely strong enough to stand.

"Sometimes the only thing you can do is sacrifice yourself, so that others can continue the struggle," she said.

Suddenly, Steve got up as if nothing had harmed him before, grabbing Slim and shoving her whole body in the water. Necrom tried to stop him, but with a swift kick Steve knocked him down again and kept him down with his foot. Necrom tried to struggle, but by the time Steve had released his grip Slim had already drowned. When Necrom rose to his feet, Steve had already retrieved his sword and was pointing it at the Zombie's throat.

"Now, now," he said mockingly, "You wouldn't want your efforts to be in vain, now would you? Listen, the rain is going to stop soon, just as the sun is going to rise. Go grab a pumpkin from the ocean. I can't have you burning up just yet. Do it!" he screamed. Necrom obeyed, grabbing the pumpkin from the ocean and swimming back to shore, knowing that if he tried to swim away Steve could easily kill him.

"Your determination-and the determination your friends had-was and is admirable. In fact, I want to make a deal with you. Isn't that what you wanted in the first place?" Necrom nodded.

"Good," Steve said. "I challenge you to a duel at noon. By wearing the pumpkin helmet for now, and swapping it for diamond later, you can survive in the daylight. We will both arrive in the plains northwest of here at the aforementioned time. I will have a diamond sword and a full set of diamond armor for you. If you lose, well, you die. But if you defeat me in combat, I swear upon all of Genesia and all that is in it that I will leave this land and never return! That way, your efforts will not be in vain. How does this sound?" Steve asked.

"I will do it, but not for your amusement. I will do it for all of the mobs of this planet, so that they will be free from you if you keep your word!" Necrom cried.

"I can assure you, I will," Steve said, his voice suddenly taking a somber and sincere tone. It was the only sentence from his mouth that Necrom could fully believe.


	12. Chapter 12

It was agreed that Necrom would be allowed to sleep for the rest of the night until noon. Making sure that the pumpkin was secure on his head, Necrom crossed the mouth of the river at Sunnyshore, and headed north into the plains. Unlike the biome that held Agraria, this plains biome seemed to stretch vertically instead of horizontally, and at one particular part of the west coast of this region there was a bay surrounded by more Extreme Hills, and further north, right before the plains gave way to another forest known on a peninsula, lay a short, flat hill. In the base of the hill, a small cave had apparently been carved, and Necrom could see a door that led into the underside of the hill. Necrom went inside and saw the chest, furnace, and crafting table in the one-room cave, realizing that Steve probably made this in order to have a place to sleep when he was out in this generally unlit region.

Necrom was a little hesitant to sleep in one of Steve's beds. By doing so, would he be symbolically accepting what Steve had told him? Or did not mean anything at all? Necrom decided to do it anyway because he knew that the cold ground was not a good alternative. As he tried to sleep, he thought of what Steve had said. If what Steve said was true-and Necrom was almost completely convinced it was by now-then what had he done as Steve? Were all the things he saw in his dream his own memories, or those of "another" Steve, now a Zombie somewhere? And if Necrom defeated Steve, would he be able to find any of these other Zombies?

The final question Necrom asked himself, the one that he needed to know the answer to more than the others, was who he had killed as Steve. In his dream, he remembered seeing 2 Creepers in the desert, an Enderman in a library, many baby Spiders, and a group of Skeletons killed. Had he been the Steve that had killed the loved ones of his friends, an addition to leading them to their own deaths?

When Necrom thought of the siege, he was filled with immense guilt and sorrow. There was no way around it; his overzealous ideals and recklessness had brought about all of their deaths, and there was no way he could be forgiven. Not even Puyo, if there was some he could see him again, would forgive him for this, Necrom thought. He had befriended five mobs and become their protector and leader, only to lead them all to death while he was still alive. He deserved to die as well, he thought, but he wasn't worthy of sharing whatever afterlife they were living in now. He would be best drowning in the magma seas of the Nether.

And then Necrom drifted off to sleep, wondering if it was possible to redeem himself.

He awoke in his dream, finding himself in some sort of colorless void with beginning or end. The only thing he could see where the smiling faces of his friends, floating in the void with him and free of their wounds. Klack spoke up first.

"This is it; the most important battle of Genesia," he said simply, but with a slight smile in his features. Necrom noticed that his bow was gone.

"I don't need it anymore," Klack explained when he noticed that Necrom was looking for it. "No one can use it to hurt anyone else anymore. Well, except for maybe the occasional wild animal or something."

Necrom chuckled. "Klack, I don't hold you responsible for my failure in the siege. I don't want you to think that just because it was your idea that you are to blame for all of this." Klack smiled with the others.

"It's okay. I realize now how foolish our plan was. There was nothing we could do but fight to the end, really."

"Yeah, being dead really makes you think," Arachne added. Necrom looked at her, still feeling apologetic towards her and the others.

"What do you mean by that?" Necrom said. Arachne smiled, as if she knew something that Necrom did not, something that made everything better.

"We know exactly what will happen to...well, everything, now that we're dead," Arachne explained somewhat cryptically. "We're not telling you anything, but you'll find out at some point."

"The knowledge we have now is what is keeping us in such a lighthearted mood!" Slim said. "We all came into your dream to wish you good luck, and tell you that you shouldn't feel guilty about what happened, about everything that had to do with us. Don't feel guilty about our deaths at the siege, because they were actually inevitable. We see that now. But they were not without purpose. And we know now about your past as a previous incarnation of Steve. What you like for us to tell you what you did?" she asked.

"Yes. Was I the one that...killed all of your loved ones?" Puyo shook his head and smiled, nuzzling his foster father. Necrom could almost feel the head of the loveable Creeper brush up against him.

"No, Necrom. You did many wonderful things while you were Steve!" Puyo said. Suddenly, a vision entered Necrom's mind, and he saw Steve-himself, rather-in the middle of field, taking grass seeds and planting rows and rows of wheat. He also saw himself chopping down trees, and placing saplings in their place. He saw himself riding out in a boat in the sea, simply drifting without a care in the world. He saw himself trying to make potions, feeding meat to his Dogs that wasn't rotting flesh, dancing to music from a music disc, and inviting friends over to shoot arrows and the bases of the wooden structures he had built in a hearty game of arrow golf. He saw himself painting sheep various colors and letting them roam free in the world. He saw himself placing ladders and fences all around the ravines so that no one could fall in. He saw himself stationing Dogs at villagers to protect them, and creating a watermelon patch from just a few seeds.

In short, Necrom only seemed to do non-violent, peaceful things during his time as Steve. Necrom himself could hardly believe this.

"Is this some sort of elaborate illusion you 4 have created for me?" he asked. They all laughed.

"No, it's your life, silly!" Puyo cried.

"And right now, in your half-life, you have one last job to do," Slim said. "We already know the outcome, and the result, and no matter what happens it will be beneficial."

"You're doing this for all of Genesia!" Klack said.

"Go knock some sense into Steve!" Arachne cried.

"We all have proved ourselves to be great enough to be remembered, and now it's your turn," Slim said, waving goodbye.

"We'll all be a family again one day!" Puyo said, smiling. "Goodbye and good luck, Necrom! We love you!"

"And...I love all of you, too," Necrom said as the void grew brighter and brighter.

**. . . . .**

Steve, clad in diamond armor and wielding a diamond sword, as per the duel's rules, paced back in forth south of the hill, waiting for Necrom to emerge. Finally, he could hear the sound of something being smashed and crushed to bits, and a loud and low growl resounded across the region. Necrom was ready to fight!

Necrom approached the clearing and saw Steve, walking straight up to him without fear. Steve handed him his armor and his sword.

"Stand back 20 paces from me, please," Steve asked in a rather snobbish but frightened voice. Necrom did as instructed after equipping himself, walking backwards so as not to take his eyes off of Steve.

"In one minute, a TNT block I placed will explode on a platform above us, and the battle will begin," Steve announced. "Anything you want to say?"

"No matter the outcome of this battle, I hope that it will be remembered by all for generations to come for my bravery," Necrom replied. Steve nodded in understanding.

"And when they do think of it," Necrom added silently to himself, "I hope that they remember what I was fighting for."

The fighters charged each other, and the battle began. Steve began by swinging his sword from the side, only to be blocked by Necrom, who saw it coming. The Zombie then delivered a punch to Steve's face, momentarily stunning him so that he could stab him in the chest plate. The blow did not go all the way, but it did damage the armor significantly. Steve pulled the sword out of his chest plate and pushed Necrom backwards, but this time the Zombie did not fall down. As Steve tried to rush him again, Necrom swung faster, and this time he hit Steve on his unprotected left arm. Steve's arm practically went limp, and he was forced to hold his sword with only one hand. Realizing this, Necrom held his sword with both hands and swung it in arc down on Steve, damaging his helmet greatly. Steve blocked Necrom's next attack, and then surprised the Zombie by punching him in the face with his bad arm, although the blow only partially hit his face. Necrom felt dizzy as he saw Steve raising his sword, helpless as it hit him on the head and dented his helmet. Necrom fell to the ground, momentarily thinking that he had now lost the battle. As Steve stood over him, and began to pry off his helmet, Necrom suddenly swept his leg and hit Steve's boots, tripping him and making him fall forward. Necrom rolled out of the way so that Steve wouldn't fall on top of him, and when the Zombie rose to his feet he stabbed Steve's chest plate in the back, shattering it completely. Steve suddenly stood up as well, jumping up from his position on the ground and kicking Necrom in the face. As Necrom fell backwards and crashed, his chest plate, leggings and boots all took some damage. But Necrom quickly got up before Steve could reach him and slashed at face once again, the tip of the blade sinking into his skin, and the sides severely damaging the helmet again. Steve kicked Necrom in the shin, partially damaging his leggings and stunning him long enough so that he could try to take a swing at his helmet. Necrom quickly blocked Steve's blow with his good leg, damaging the leggings even more but protecting the helmet. Finally, Necrom stabbed Steve in the chest, almost hitting his heart. Steve screamed in agony, collapsing. Necrom stood over him, ready to defeat his foe at long last.

"I hope you uphold your promise," Necrom said.

Steve screamed as loudly and deeply as he could, the booming moan eventually subsiding into a growl much like a Zombie's. As Necrom stabbed him straight in the heart, Steve suddenly went silent. Necrom at first thought he was dead, but then he heard a raspy whisper:

"I'm...not...dead...yet!" And Steve suddenly sat up and tackled Necrom, tearing off his helmet. Necrom began to burn in the sunlight, and Steve grinned sadistically.

"There's no way you can win. Not when the sun can always kill you!" Steve cried. As Necrom burned, he tried to think fast to save himself. There was only one thing that would work. As his green skin went up in flames, Necrom grabbed his sword and stabbed Steve once again in the chest close to his heart. Then he placed his hands on Steve's chest, hoping that his plan would work. If it did, his survival and Steve's defeat were assured.

**. . . . .**

The Zombie gave a high pitched wail, and then finally collapsed on the ground, its charred body finally a corpse. Necrom opened his eyes, just as the sun was setting. In front of him, his opponent had been burnt to a crisp, and now his rotten flesh lay on the ground. Necrom picked it up and took off his remaining armor. He walked back to Sunnyshore as the sun began to sink in the sky. Apparently, he had been unconscious for several hours after the battle, and the mobs had begun to spawn. Rather than attacking him, they simply stared.

When he returned to Sunnyshore, he went into Creative Mode once more, ignoring the surprised looks of the villagers, who were wondering what had happened at the fight. Using bedrock-so that the building never broke or faded away-Necrom built a small house, honoring the five mobs that had forced him to change his mind, just as they had seen in death. Necrom built five display cases for each of them; one with a string and spider eye, one with gunpowder, one with a bone and an arrow, one with an Ender pearl, and one with rotting flesh. Over each he engraved plaques, and they were written as follows:

Arachne-Spider/loving mother

Puyo-Creeper/child casualty

Klack-Skeleton/shooter of the never-missing bow

Slim-Enderwoman/brightest heart in the End

Necrom-Zombie/fearless leader

Finally, Puyo's music disc was placed in a music box. Before he could play it, a villager opened the door to the memorial. Necrom turned around to face him.

"What happened to you, Steve?" The villager asked. "Why are you green? Did the Zombie do something to you?"

"Yes," Necrom said. "He forced me to realize that perhaps there was I way I could survive without destroying the lives of others. I see both sides of life in Genesia now, and I see that there is a way we can all live in peace, if the right steps are taken. That is what the mobs died for, but they didn't realize it in life."

"...Oh. What are you going to do now?" the villager asked.

"In the morning, I would like a few of you to follow me to Frigidity. We will see that they are not so different from you villagers after all." The villager left the memorial, and Necrom went to sleep.

The next morning, Necrom awoke with a smile, staring at the display cases before going out.

"I will never forget you, my friends," he said. "I feel privileged to have been a father to you all."

With a group of villagers, he then headed out for Frigidity, carrying what little crops Sunnyshore had left. The sunlight felt good on Necrom's skin. They were greeted by a Creeper in a white cape, who stared at the peace offering with curious eyes. He then looked at Necrom, and realized what had happened. He picked up the basket with the crops in it with his teeth, and in a few minutes he returned to give Necrom a basket of berries, fruits, meat, and a small pink vial.

"Once it runs out, it will be very difficult to replenish. You do need it, right?" Radius asked. Necrom looked at it curiously.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It is a Potion of Reviving," Radius replied. "It is the greatest triumph of our people. Use it well."

Necrom went back to Sunnyshore with more than enough food for the villagers. After gathering the bodies of every casualty together, Necrom poured a drop of the Potion of Reviving on each one. One by one, the villagers miraculously opened their eyes, overjoyed and surprised to be alive. By the time Necrom was finished bringing back the villagers, the vial was nearly empty. He broke the display case of each friend in the memorial and poured a drop on each of their remains. First Klack's bone, then Arachne's eye, then Slim's pearl, and finally Puyo's gunpowder. Each of one of them smiled when they awoke.

"Now you see why we were so happy before!" Slim said. Puyo nuzzled up against Necrom.

"Can we be a family now, Dad? Please?" Puyo asked. Necrom picked up his son and put him on his shoulders.

"Yes, Puyo, we can be a family."


End file.
